Ainslie celebrates 60 years of its beloved IGA, and you’re invited!
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Canberra is full of iconic institutions befitting the nation’s capital—the War Memorial, The National Gallery, the National Museum, and the Ainslie IGA…
But in all seriousness, this is no ordinary suburban supermarket. When it celebrates its 60th birthday on Saturday 20 May, you can expect a few hundred (or possibly even a few thousand) people to show up for the party.
The IGA will take over of the park in front of the shops, putting on a show of entertainers—Stella Eve, Min Ha, The Flynn Marcus Quartet, Jep and the Merici Dancers—with food, wine and beer on offer.
It will be a big day for owners Manuel Xyrakis and his sister Irene Mihailakis, who along with her three sons Nick, Dimitri and Keith, take on the day-to-day running of this bustling supermarket which has set a new high bar for places to get bread and milk.
In the IGA’s case, the bread could be one of eight local brands baked fresh daily and often still warm when they hit the bread baskets, and the milk could also be any permutation of local or regionally-sourced biodynamic cow’s milk or almond, oat or soy alternatives. But more about produce in a minute.
“Throwing this party is a chance for us to say thank you to the community for always supporting us and to all our staff, past and present for helping us to grow bigger and better,” says Manuel, who has dedicated his entire working life, as well as a sizeable chunk of his childhood, to running the shop.
He was just seven when his parents Alice and Nick Xyrakis bought what was then the Paragon Supermarket and Milk Bar in 1963.
The family lived above the shop and three siblings—Manuel, Irene and Yvonne—were tasked with sorting glass soft drink and milk bottles for recycling in their spare time. One Christmas morning Manuel woke to see a toy cash register beside his bed. By age eight he was serving behind the lolly counter, learning the first of many invaluable lessons his father taught him about business throughout his life.
You will still find him working long shifts most days, keeping a steady eye on operations while maintaining an endless flow of conversations and greetings to shoppers. Irene is also a familiar face, having put her own stamp on the supermarket through its fresh and gourmet deli offerings. Irene has always shown a strong interest in catering for those with specific food requirements and intolerances. Back in the 1990s, she lobbied to make the deli bigger and better at a time when most supermarkets were phasing them out. She also introduced a range of gluten-free and organic products well before they became mainstream, making the IGA in Ainslie the go-to for many Canberra coeliacs.
Nick Mihailakis, is part of the third generation wave helping run Ainslie IGA
Yvonne, meanwhile, has been a powerhouse behind the scenes of the supermarket, using her IT skills to guide it through the move to electronic scanners, and manage all manner of software upgrades.
“We wouldn’t be here today without my sisters,” said Manuel, who is more the public face of the supermarket, always buzzing through the aisles talking to people.
While the suburb has filled with young professionals and families, Manuel makes time in particular for his elderly customers, for whom the trip to do groceries may be the social outing of their week.
He is well known for going the extra mile for anyone in need, organising home deliveries, checking in on people and even taking customers next door to Edgars for a coffee when they are down.
He knows just about every local and his historical understanding of the inner north is unmatched.
But Manuel pays tribute to his nephews for injecting a new energy and relevance into the store, which has changed dramatically since 1963.
For one thing, it’s eight times as large and in 2012, Manuel took the unusual step of moving all alcohol sales into a separate location, next door, at Ainslie Cellars. It’s run by Keith and his wife Kate.
Keith and Kate Mihailakis run Ainslie Cellars as a separate store to the IGA (right nextdoor).
“Absolutely everyone in the industry told me not to do it, but I really wanted to keep alcohol separate to the rest of the supermarket and now Ainslie Cellars has turned into a real success story.”
Meanwhile, the boys and Kate came up with grand plans for the cheese wall, which required significant investment and has elevated Ainslie IGA to a foodie haven.
“At first I wasn’t quite sold on the cheese wall, but the boys said we had to have a point of difference and so it became cheese! None of us guessed how popular it would be.”
The cheese aisle is indeed a vision, stocking hundreds of Australian and imported cheeses and drawing dairy-addicts from across the city (including the French Ambassador’s chef).
Meanwhile, the award-winning in-store butcher and large fresh produce section do a roaring trade.
“The family has always wanted to give back to the community and provide true attention to what our customers want,” says Manuel.
And this food-obsessed enormous Greek family has a good idea of what that is.
This includes supporting local, with the IGA stocking more than 200 Canberra brands, from Barrio Coffee to Italian & Sons pre-packed meals, Ramen Daddy bowls, and Three Mills bread.
It’s also been a long-term supporter of the Ainslie Football Club, is always up for helping good local causes, and in 2018, jumped in as major sponsor to ensure the survival of the Canberra documentary film festival Stronger Than Fiction.
The environment is also a big issue for inner-north residents with Ainslie IGA the first Canberra supermarket to phase out plastic bags for paper, introducing recyclable trays for their meat and fresh produce, as well as offering customers the option of using their own bowls for deli goods and stocking the city’s largest range of organic, biodynamic and vegan products. And as their drone footage on Instagram attests, the roof full of solar panels provides a hefty 115 kilowatts of power to the shop.
Managers Sheetalben Upadhyay and Laura Ruffy plus Ian McNeil who is also head chef.
When Covid hit, the family made a decision for Manuel and Irene to stay away from the shop in order to care for their beloved mother and the family’s yiayia, Alice.
All the children, including Manuel’s daughters pitched in to work early mornings and late nights in the early months of Covid to ensure the locals had what they needed (even when there was a run on hand sanitiser and toilet paper).
“That was one of the hardest things for me to do was to stay away. I felt lost. I felt like a captain deserting his ship, but the children insisted.”
The family lost Alice in 2021, aged 89.
Manuel misses his mum every day and wishes she could have partaken in the stores 60th celebrations.
Meanwhile, as much as he loves to help customers, mentor his staff and ensure the shop runs like clockwork, Manuel also admits that the shop gives back to him in spades.
“I do love it. It makes me happy to be in the store talking to people. I could never imagine as a child that this is what it would have grown into. My dad told me to ‘never sell Ainslie’ and he would be so proud to see it now.”
The party starts at 10 and runs until 3pm.
Disclaimer. This article is written by a life-long Ainslie local, who describes the Ainslie IGA as her second home and has also flagged the idea of having her ashes scattered down the cheese aisle when she passes this mortal coil.
Main Image: Manuel Xyrakis. Say Cheese!
