Footscray’s iconic Olympic Doughnuts is shutting up shop.
The Footscray station institution, started up by Nick Tsiligiris in the 1970s, is wrapping up due to Mr Tsiligiris’s ongoing health issues.
Mr Tsiligiris’s daughter Gina Hasapis confirmed her father would not be returning to make and sell the 80-cent hot jam doughnuts that had helped put Footscray on the map.
Ms Hasapis said it was a difficult decision to close, but Olympic Doughnuts was always about her father.
“The decision had been made long before Nick’s health issues that when it came time for Nick to hang up his tongs so to speak, it would mean the end of an era,” she said.
“It’s Nick’s legacy and we wanted it to remain that way.”
Ms Hasapis said the support of the public has been overwhelming and left the family and Nick speechless.
“Many times we have taken solace in the support and love shown not only to Nick but to the family,” she said.
“We knew he was loved and respected but did anyone expect this? This support means the world to us and more importantly it is great that it is not only us, his family, who got to know the man he was but his loyal customers.”
The family was forced in October to quash rumours that spread like wildfire over the internet that Mr Tsiligiris had died.
Posts on Facebook that claimed the 81-year-old Footscray icon had passed away were shared thousands of times as the rumour also raced across other social media including Twitter and Reddit.
The rumour had been triggered by a “Rest in Peace” poster taped to the front of the closed Olympic Doughnuts stall at Footscray Station.
Ms Hasapis told Star Weekly at the time that her father and the family were in the process of deciding upon the future of Olympic Doughnuts, closed since early 2016 due to Mr Tsiligiris’s poor health.
The closure follows the loss last May of Footscray restaurant icon Jimmy Wong, widely regarded as Melbourne’s “king of dim sims”.
The doughnuts filled with hot jam from the nose of a dolphin dispenser have long been regarded as among Australia’s best, tempting locals and visitors alike at Footscray railway station since 1979.
Mr Tsiligiris’s doughnuts and life were recently immortalised when filmmakers Ian Tran and Rachel Morssink created the short film Olympic Nick: A Donutumentary, which will be broadcast on ABC2 this Friday night.
