The Re Store: Iconic Perth deli celebrates 90 years in business

As retail stores shutter across Perth and shopping carts move online, there is one family-run institution that refuses to be left behind.

The Re Store, which began as a humble fruit and vegetable shop in Northbridge, is celebrating 90 years in business this year.

Still owned and run by the grandchildren of its founders John and Maria Re, the Leederville and Northbridge landmarks have outlived a fire, trends, a cost of living crisis, death and even a pandemic.

And the secret to its success is not as complicated as you might suspect. “People still want to touch and feel products. They want advice,” owner Moreno Berti told STM.

“They might already know what they’re looking for, but they want that human connection — someone who says, ‘Try this, you’ll love it.’

“Why put a Re Store on every corner? That’s not us.”

What began as a deli opened thanks to a pawned wedding ring, has now grown into two thriving businesses that span across four generations.

In recent times, its been the store’s legendary continental rolls, or “conti rolls”, that draw crowds down. But the beloved sandwich has humble roots, created in the late 40s as a way to solve a wastage issue for the ends of salami, mortadella and ham.

“My grandfather thought, ‘Just make a mixed meat and cheese roll’. That’s how it started. Basic,” Berti said. “And literally, it grew and grew and grew.”

Yet its connection that keeps shoppers coming back — staff greeting you by name with a smile, or their tried-and-tested recommendations for a paired wine, some excellent cured meat or cheese.

“I’ve got a group of Italian guys who come in every Saturday morning and stand guard at the front,” Berti said. “At eight o’clock, they open the door — they’re always the first four in. I’ve been here 35 years and they’ve been doing it since I started.”

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