Mile End's Greektown: Old Roots and New Blood

Walking by the line of customers forming outside Bernie Beigne on a Thursday morning, it’s easy to forget the donut shop is just one of many establishments in the Mile End continuing the decades-long presence Montreal’s Greek community has had in the area.

“There’s nothing to really identify us as a Greek business,” says co-owner Dean Giannarakis, “but there are days that you’re going to walk in here and there’s Zeibekiko playing because we felt like listening to Greek music.”

The third-generation Greek-Montrealer has known the neighbourhood where he and his partners opened up their five-year-old business his entire life.

“My grandparents moved to the Mile End when they emigrated from the island of Crete,” he says. “Every Sunday we’d go to the Cretan Association and then either lunch at my grandparents’ house or walk in the area.”

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