When readers first wrote in to lament the impending closure of Stillitanos, a long… LONG-time corner shop at Manly, we were quick to make contact to learn if it was true. The quintessential Italian deli, or forms of it, has been a part of Manly as long as anyone can remember. Fear not … Stillitano’s Corner shop at the intersection of Pine St and Pittwater Rd is not closing, but the business is for lease while owner Giulia Carbone fights some hard health battles.
Change is not new for the family behind this classic Manly corner store.
It moves with the times and as with many businesses has to adjust to social flux. Things like changes to Manly as a suburb, societal norms, shopping and eating habits, and the way people relate to one another. Things are considerably quieter around Stillitano’s these days, particularly compared to earlier times. Back then the corner store is a community hub for food and the necessities of life.
Because a shop with more than 70-years of history is almost a microcosm of life – it can be wonderful, troubling, joyous, crushing, a challenge, uplifting.
Giulia can testify to this; she saw the changes over the years in real time. Her real time!
The back story
While she attends St Mary’s Primary and goes to high school at Stella Maris, she works in the family store from the age of 5.
Her dad Ken (real name ‘Carmelo’) comes to Australia from Calabria, Italy, in 1935 at the age of 5. In 1955, he buys the property which eventually becomes Ken’s Corner. “In the early days it’s more like a house on stilts,” his daughter says of their residence. “The shop itself is on street level.”
Prior to Ken taking charge of the property, it’s a fruit and vegetable shop owned by John Truman. A picture c1935 shows ‘Truman’s Corner’ signage, adjacent to a sign for Peter’s Ice Cream. In fact, Peter’s Ice Cream begins in Manly in 1907, by Fred Peters. And while the trimmings might have changed from this image, its ‘corner shop’ facade is clearly visible.
“People would come down from Palm Beach for dad’s fruit and veg,” Giulia says of Ken’s Corner. “That’s the main thing. But we’re also a milk bar and do lollies, ice cream and drinks.”
It’s hard to imagine, in our food-obsessed culture, that when Ken begins trading he is something of a pioneer; quietly providing a culinary education to locals who might be trapped in a meat and three veg scenario.
Ken makes a wire frame, situates it near the ceiling. It’s where he hangs salamis. “Sometimes they come freshly made from our cousins’ properties out west,” Giulia says. “When they’re ready he gives out samples for people to try.”
She says everyone knows and loves her dad. He is friendly to all, always singing and whistling. “People used to call him the young Mario Lanza,” Giulia says. “I think he would have been a singer at another time, if circumstances had been different.
“At Christmas, he and mum (Elena) put on a huge spread for customers: wine, beer, crusty bread, olives, cured meats and cheeses.”
Talking about her parents still cuts deep for Giulia. She looks away as she wipes newly arrived tears from her eyes. Ken dies in 2001 and Elena about eight-months later.
“I can’t imagine any other business on this corner.”
Sadly, her eldest brother Fred also dies in 2009. Giulia takes over the shop in 2013. There are also two other siblings: Sam and Paul. All the boys also go to St Mary’s in primary school, and then up the hill to St Paul’s for high school.
Today, health concerns have forced Giulia’s hand. She’s pretty much on her own, notwithstanding help from her two children and a friend, Peter. Her goal is to lease the business and take some time for treatment. She receives infusions every six months.
“I have MS and CLL,” she says. “Most have heard of MS. CLL is a form of leukaemia. I have too many white blood cells. I seem okay just standing here behind the counter. But if I move around the shop people ask ‘Oh, what’s wrong with your leg?’
“Running the shop is getting a bit much.”
But don’t suggest retirement as an option for Giulia. “They’ll have to take me out on a stretcher,” she says, only half tongue-in-cheek. “Leasing is not my choice but it has to be done.”
Even though she is temporarily leaving the business, Giulia says her memories of those grand days will always be with her. “It was a different time,” she says. “When children would knock on doors and ask if their friends could come out and play. And scents at 6pm, from kitchens all around the area, telling of the family dinners about to be enjoyed.
“I remember Saturday afternoons when the garage across the road would close for the day, and we would ride around the servo on our bikes. It was such a big area.
“We play in the laneways, in people’s backyards, around the neighbourhood. When it is time for dinner, my father walks outside and calls out to us.”
And what a dinner!
“Mum cooks all the traditional rustic Italian dishes – pasta, lasagne, braciole, meatballs. She often cooks with legumes. It’s because of where they’re from, in Calabria, they eat everything which comes from the ground.”
When her mum cooks, aromas permeate the shop. “People walk inside, breathe in, and ask what is that smell?”
Alas, time moves on and new norms emerge. “You used to see families with mum pushing the stroller, dad holding hands of two younger kids, going for walks. You don’t see that anymore.”
She adds with a hint of sadness: “You don’t see many of the good old corner stores or fruit shops either.”
Now her shop has shelves stocked bulging – canned goods, groceries, biscuits and cakes, lollies, chocolate bars, over-the-counter chemist products, Panettone, brooms, Italian sweets, batteries, toilet paper and much more. Convenience with a capital C. Perfect for visiting families needing to stock up for a week or two of beach holiday.
The store no longer sells freshly prepared food. It still does espresso but the fare Giulia learns from her mother and grandmother – the lasagne, ravioli, spaghetti and sandwiches – is no longer viable from a business perspective.
“I can’t imagine any other business on this corner,” she says.
“I won’t allow anything else to be here!” Again, this comes only half tongue-in-cheek.
“When I look around there are just so many memories.”
