A Bakery, a Family, a Neighborhood: 72 Years in Kypseli

Grigoris Remoundos, the owner of Remoundos Bakery, talks to NEO

By Kelly Fanarioti

At the intersection of Tinos Street and Kypselis Street, in the neighborhood of Kypseli, the Remoundos bakery has been operating continuously for 72 years. It is the oldest bakery still in operation in the area, and during the Christmas and Easter seasons it attracts residents from every corner of Athens, who come to buy its famous sweets.

The story begins in 1953, when two brothers, Grigoris and Vasilis, left their hometown of Andros Island and moved to Athens in search of work. They initially worked for an acquaintance who owned a bakery in Chalandri, before deciding to open their own bakery in Kypseli.

After several years, one of the brothers, Vasilis, stepped away, and the bakery came fully under the care of Grigoris. Today, Grigoris’s grandsons, Grigoris and Giorgos, continue to keep the tradition alive, adapting it to the needs of the modern era while remaining faithful to their roots.

“The shop is inseparably linked to our childhood. This is where we grew up. Every morning before school, we would stop by to say good morning to our father, and when school was over, we would come by to pick up our meal. During the holidays, we also helped with the preparation of Christmas and Easter sweets. We made melomakarona, kourabiedes, tsoureki, and anything else you can imagine. Our entire lives are filled with the aromas of this bakery. There are customers who have known my brother and me since we were children. Some of them still call me Grigorakis”, Grigoris Remoundos says to NEO.

After completing their schooling, they decided, together with their parents, to study baking at the National Baking School of London.

“That was a strange time,” Grigoris explains, “in the sense that the rise of industrial bread production had just begun, and there was a prevailing fear that it would swallow up small neighborhood shops. In the end, things turned out differently, and we have remained in operation for 72 consecutive years”.

The coal-fired oven was replaced by a gas oven, both deck and convection, capable of baking up to 66 loaves at a time. The two brothers’ day begins before dawn; they rise in the middle of the night, around three in the morning, and work tirelessly, without a strict schedule. Their bread is made exclusively with flour from local mills, while the durum wheat they use is 100% Greek.

“It is a hard and demanding job that requires sacrifices. Our working hours are very different from those of most people. We wake up every day at 3:00 in the morning, come to the bakery, and get straight to work. During the period leading up to Christmas and New Year’s, we close at nine in the evening,” Grigoris adds.

The aroma of freshly baked melomakarona is hard to ignore and rarely leaves passersby unmoved. For this reason, the Remoundos bakery draws not only local residents but also former Kypseli locals who have since moved away, as well as visitors who have heard about or read of its famous Christmas sweets.

“The recipe has remained the same since 1953. The only thing that may change from time to time is our suppliers, whom we always make sure are based in Greece. We place great emphasis on our raw ingredients like quality thyme honey, butter, and nuts. Our customers are certainly looking for a distinctive taste in the products they buy, but the ingredients also play a crucial role, and on those we never compromise”.

A Neighborhood in Transition

Having grown up inside the bakery, Grigoris has, in a way, become a witness to the changes that have taken place in what was once a middle-class neighborhood of Athens. During the 1990s, many people from different countries settled in Kypseli, bringing with them the customs and traditions of their cultures.

After some years, the neighborhood went through a period of increased crime, but over the past six years it has been experiencing a renewed sense of growth.

“More and more young people from Greece and abroad are choosing Kypseli as a place to live and are showing great interest in local neighborhood shops. They support us on a daily basis and help recreate the sense of community we had forgotten in recent years,”

Beyond the social composition of the neighborhood, dietary habits have also changed over the years. As a result, alongside the bakery’s classic loaves and savory goods, one can now find sugar-free sweets or cookies made with chickpeas and dates.

“We adapt to the times and to the needs of consumers. More and more parents are now looking for healthier options for their children and, for example, instead of buying a croissant, they will choose a cookie made from legumes or nuts. We also place particular emphasis on our customers with diabetes and prepare products for them on a daily basis,’’

As we bring our conversation to a close, Grigoris feels the need to point out that this small, traditional bakery is not merely a source of income for him and his brother, but something far more meaningful.

“This shop carries a deep emotional weight for us. Beyond the fact that most of our childhood memories were shaped here, there are customers who knew our grandparents and parents, all of whom have now passed away. Many of them share stories about our ancestors. stories that even we ourselves did not know. It is deeply moving,” he concludes.