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SUNDAY PROFILE: Alex Coronakes and the last fruit shop on the block

The Lismore App

Sara Browne

13 November 2021, 9:09 PM

SUNDAY PROFILE: Alex Coronakes and the last fruit shop on the block

Alex Coronakes is the owner and manager of family fruit business Tropicana on Keen Street. If the walls could talk they would share an epic story of a family business spanning the last five decades as Lismore has evolved. Alex had a chat in the shop with Sara Browne about life in the last fruit shop on the block.


I speak a little bit of Greek. Mum and Dad never pushed it on us at home but we did go to Greek school for a while, I never wanted to learn. We went over here at Lismore High, there was a room over the other side that they pulled down that was used for Greek school. I never wanted to travel to Greece.

 

I went to Richmond River Primary School in 1955 before Lismore Heights Primary was built. Then in 1957 I think it was, or 58, I went to Lismore Heights primary and finished my primary school there after repeating a year. Then went back to Richmond River for high school. My brothers and sister all went to the same school.

 

There was nine of us, five girls and four boys. We lived on High Street. My father built the house up there and I bought it back about 30 years ago. So, I’m now living back at home.

 

I’ve lived in Lismore all my life. I spent about 18 months living in Ballina in 1969 when we had a milk bar down there, with my brother. Unfortunately, I had trouble with my skin and I couldn’t work in the milk bar anymore so I went cane hauling for a season. It was pretty hard work. My father died in 1965, he was only 50. So, I finished my schooling and went to work. I used to work in a fruit shop down here on Keen Street where the Camera House is. Family friends of ours owned it, I worked there for a while. I also spent some time working at the Worker’s Club. My first job was at Norco in the laboratory. I used to go round the factory collecting samples.

 

Mum sold the house after Dad died, in about 1965. There were a few other owners. At the time we were living up the road a bit further. My son went down there one day, the Catholic church owned it at the time, and saw somebody there and said if ever the house comes up for sale could you let my father know. So, they let us know when it was for sale, they gave us the first option, and we bought it back.


Early 50s at Tropicana, staff with Alex's father Spiro

 

I spent a little bit of time working at the House with No Steps (now Summerland House) in 1980. An Italian bloke had the shop out at MacLean’s Ridges, at the old school, I bought it in 1986. We spent three years there. At the time, the guy who’d bought Tropicana – he was an Italian bloke too – he couldn’t handle it and he rang me up one day and said do you want to buy your father’s shop back? I said yes. I’ve been here ever since. That was about 1989.

 

I’ve been the only fruit shop on the block for a long time. When my Dad was here in the 50’s and 60’s there was about eight guys selling fruit and veg in town. There were other little supermarkets and about six or eight butcher shops in the CBD. I’m the only one left. It’s quite unique. There’s a lot of history in this shop. The walls don’t talk unfortunately.

 

If I go back to when Dad owned the shop, it was a milk bar and he sold a bit of specialty fruit. Then he sold it to Harry Crethar’s father. Harry Crethar’s son, Harry, married my sister, Maria. My brother used to work here too. Anyway, Harry’s father sold it, there were a few other owners. After my father sold it, he put the shop next door where Thai Satay is, that was Tropicana. He sold it just before he died.

 

Before all that, he also had a shop over the road where Fundies is. He had a continental club over there – two snooker tables and big benches for everybody to sit down. They used to play cards of a night over there. Card players would come from everywhere and they’d sit there all night playing cards. One part of the club, on the other side, was the Lismore Fruit Exchange, which my father and uncle owned at the time. Behind the fruit exchange was a doctor’s surgery, old Doctor Kellas had his surgery there.


 

When Dad moved across here to the Thai Satay space, he had an old Jewish bloke there who used to sell jewellery. He had glass cabinets full of jewellery.

 

There was a very strong Greek community in Lismore when I was growing up. Every Sunday afternoon at the rowing club or the Bexhill Hall there’d be a big booze up. We were taught to say poems. I wasn’t that interested. I had a girlfriend at school who was an aussie, that’s all I was interested in, that and playing sport.

 

I played baseball, started softball in 1959. 1961 I was the first junior Huckleberry Medal winner for baseball in Lismore. I played A grade baseball, A grade tennis, A grade squash, a little bit of soccer.

 

I went to the 1994 Master’s Games in Brisbane, that was a pretty good turnout. I was never able to travel with sport. I went to Brisbane a few times as a kid but being a Greek boy, I wasn’t recognised too much. There was a bit of prejudice in those days from what I can remember.

 

I got married in 1969. I met my wife working at Norco, she worked there too. I was only 20 when I got married. Been married 52 years now. That’s some achievement. I’ve worked most of my life together with my wife and the family. We don’t argue too much. We both have different ideas of things and different ways. I do the gardening and she does the house work. That’s a good deal. We have two boys and two girls. Tony is the eldest, then Christina, Nicky and Elky. They’re in Lismore and Chrissy lives in Lennox Head. We’ve got six grandkids, three boys, three girls.

 

When I’m not working, I’m gardening. I work every Saturday for a doctor, she’s been a customer of mine for about 30 years. I did a home delivery for her one day and I said you need a gardener badly up here. I came back to work and an hour later I got a phone call from her husband, he asked me if I was interested in doing their garden, I said yep. Every Saturday I go there. I’ve built rock walls, landscaped all the yard, do all the hedges. Saturday afternoon and Sunday I spend time in my own yard, doing the hedges and mowing the lawns. I grow a lot of vegetables in winter time for the shop. I don’t spray. I only do specialty lines like bunch vegetables, carrots, cabbage, beetroot. I’ve got my chooks, only half a dozen but they give enough eggs for us to eat.

 

I like chooks. I had a pet rooster when I was a kid and every time my grandmother would come over, the rooster would chase her. I got home from school one day and the rooster had no head left. Grandma didn’t have anything to say about that but I was a bit upset because it was a very nice rooster. I thought it was a show-worthy rooster. Grandma chopped its head off. She had a funny way of killing chooks in those days. She’d put her feet on the two wings and get a knife and just chop the head off.

 

She was my mother’s mum. She spent a fair bit of time living with us. She was Greek too, born in Glenn Innes. Dad came from overseas in about late 20s. They all came to Lismore. I don’t know what it was in those days, there was Greeks and Italians everywhere. Not may left now. There’s no real Greek community here anymore except my family, sisters and brothers. The Greek priest from the Gold Coast pays me a visit every 12 months, puts a blessing on the shop with the holy water.

 

I wouldn’t say I’m a religious person but there are things that I believe in. We used to go to Sunday school as kids. I was never a church goer but I have my beliefs. I don’t feel as though I need to publicise that.

 

I never wanted to live anywhere else. I reckon if ever I went to Greece, they’d have to build a bridge. I don’t like planes. Unfortunately, when Dad died there were quite a few properties left in Greece for our family. Of course, we knew nothing about it. Although I do remember my father saying after his last trip – I’m going to take you over there one day, there’s properties there, with all the donkeys. About 15 years ago we got notification there were properties but the relations had hold of them. There are still a few uncles over there. Many years ago, one of the uncles came over to visit but he’s passed on now. I’ve never had a heap of contact with the extended family over there, my sister has contact.

 

I’m ready to go now, to retire. If the right person comes along, they can buy my shop. You’ve got to work hard. I haven’t had a holiday for 40 years. I’ve never had the flu. I’ve never had anything wrong except a hernia operation. I went into hospital one Friday morning but I was back in the shop by three o’clock in the afternoon.

  

I did have Ross River Fever about four years ago. At the time I never knew I had it, I just kept working, thinking I was getting old that’s why I felt tired. It was just after the flood. I came down with all these sore joints. I had a couple of sessions at the massage place and she said, I’m sorry I can’t do anything for you. So, I went to my doctor on the Friday and he said I think you’ve got polymyalgia rheumatica, I need you to go have a blood test tomorrow and here’s a prescription for prednisone. So, on the Saturday morning I went for the sample but I could hardly walk. I went home and took a dose of prednisone and within four hours I was up dancing again. On the Tuesday I went back to the doctor to get the results and he said ‘you’ve got a real bad dose of Ross River, your readings are way up to blazers.’ I went back after a month and there was no sign of it in my system. I didn’t take any time off, I had to keep working, sore as all hell.

 

I have a good diet. I pickle up every day. I’ve got chilli, olive oil, herbs, sweet chilli and garlic in this jar. I have it on a focaccia roll toasted with cheese every day. Plus, I eat plenty of fruit and veg. I put that down to not being sick.

 

I vaguely remember the 54 flood. The 1974 flood I was working at the Workers Club and got stuck there for five days, we couldn’t get out quick enough. We had a good time. We ate all the food, played cards.

 

I was working at the Workers Club when we bought our first house and I wasn’t earning enough money. I worked the bar and poker machines. The manager was able to put me on shifts where I could get penalty rates but it meant working nights and weekends. During the day I got a job with a funeral director and I also went out building rock walls. It was an interesting time. The first pick up I had to do for the funeral director was a lady who died in Ewing Street. She happened to be a good customer down at the Club, she used to come in and play the poker machines all the time. I went there with another guy to the address and there was this lady, it was strange.

 

For about three years I had three jobs. Rock walls I kept building forever. The last wall I did was 110 metres long by 600mm high, it’s in Woodland Avenue. We used to get the rocks from Teven Quarry or Lismore City Council. There’s a quarry down at Wyrallah too.

 

When I retire I’ll stay at home. I’ll play tennis with some of my old school mates or do a bit of fishing. I used to do a bit of surfing. I might get the boogie board out and go surfing again. I’m a bit worried about the sharks.

 

In the 60s I surfed a lot at Byron Bay but I wouldn’t go back there now. I don’t have much time for Byron Bay. Lennox or Ballina is always good. We used to surf at Shaw’s Bay in those days, Missingham Bridge. Before they extended the walls, there used to be a lot of swell come through there and it was always a good place to learn how to surf, pretty safe.


Margaret and Alex

 

I don’t stop talking. I like to stand on the footpath and have a chat. That’s part of me. I spend time with the handicapped kids from Red Inc, a lot of them come and say gday and we have a bit of fun together. It’s interesting because you sometimes run into people you haven’t seen for a long time, especially school friends, old girl friends. A lot of history. If I could remember everything, I’d be here for a couple of days talking.

 

I have a pretty interesting life and I like what I’m doing. I’m 72 now and there’s got to come a time when I say – that’s it. I would prefer family not to have the business because otherwise you’re still involved. If I make the break from here, I’d like to sell to someone who I know would look after it and then I’ll disappear overnight. 

FARMING/AG

CHARITIES

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