In 1989, Peter Kaparis was working as a motor mechanic when his Italian friend told him that a stall that was going at A-Shed on the Queen Street side of the open-air Fruit and Vegetables section of Queen Victoria Market.

“You get a bit sick of grease and grime and I thought there may be easier ways to make a living.” Mr Kaparis told Neos Kosmos. There must have been something in that because PK Fruits stall has been at A-95-99 of A Shed for 32 years – rain or shine, winter or summer.

“A lot of people think you can make quick money in the market, but it is not an easy game. You will make mistakes which is fine so long as you are prepared to learn from your mistakes,” he said.

When he first started out, there were half a dozen Greeks selling fruit and vegetables at Queen Victoria Market, now it is just Mr Kaparis who can claim that distinction. He said the market has always been dominated by Italian and Chinese sellers.

“My stall used to be run by a Chinese man. that is mother opened in 1932. Another stall holder’s great grandfather came to Victoria back in the gold rush days on the 19th Century.”

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His sense of history of the place is deep. He will certainly fascinate you with stories of the market while you consider his range of in season fruit, right now it is a big variety of apples and pears. His citrus fruit, mandarins, oranges and grapefruit are particularly popular at this time of year with their Vitamin C helping to fight all sorts of winter ailments. He has three types of Navel oranges on sale including Red Navels.

“I offer a variety of the freshest fruit that are in season. You have to balance the quality with what people can afford. We have good quality stock at a competitive price,” said Mr Kaparis.

There is a certain dedication you need to run the stall besides getting used to the vagaries of the weather. Mr Kaparis is up every morning at 3.45am to get his stock from his suppliers and grower agents.

“The way of doing things has changed since I started. There were no mobile phones then and no forklifts. The carrying of produce was done manually with the help of trolleys.”

There were a number of pubs across from the market where one could go to get helpers to offload the trucks.

“Today I pre-order from a grower agent or supplier by phone. I can specify the quality and quantity and it will be ready for me in the early morning. We don’t have to walk around and bargain as in the past,” he said.

But you still have to be up early to collect the orders and offload the trucks with the forklift.

He recounted the story of the early days when a grower would come on his horse-drawn cart loaded with his produce from Box Hill each day. The horse knew the route so well that the grower slept while his horse took him to the market and back home later in the day.

His personal memories of the market run to his childhood when his mother and aunts would bring him to the market to shop.

“When I was a kid in the 1960s you could not get ‘exotic’ produce like garlic, aubergines and courgettes in the shops. They supplied basic things like carrots, peas and potatoes.”

Migrant growers would supply the market with vegetables they knew from their home countries and in the process expanded the range of what has become available in Australia.

It is a contribution that Mr Kaparis is proud of.

The one thing a market provides that a supermarket cannot is a sense of community between the seller and his customers.

“I see customers who were babies and now shop here as adults. A lot of Greeks still come to the market, but I also meet a lot of people of different ethnicities.

“You always have to be nice to the customer. If you are grumpy, they will not come back, no matter how good your produce is.

“You make the customer feel important. It costs nothing to greet and be nice to people.