The shop has been an icon of Bermagui for the past decade, since Francesca and Alberto Cementon opened their store in the town's old veterinary clinic.

In a rush to open, they covered the ''veterinary'' in the sign and painted ''gelati'' over the top, and began sourcing fresh ingredients from the locals.

''Customers come with their own fruit - whatever they have - and we swap with gelato. There is no money involved, it's old commerce,'' store manager Mary Lurve said in an unmistakable Italian accent. ''It's working well, it's something different … and it's all organic fruit grown in the backyard.''

The store keeps a ledger to track the bartering system, with one kilogram of fruit valued at one scoop of gelato, to be redeemed at the fruit-growers' leisure.

Through Christmas and much of the summer just finished, the store had queues out of the door, but for the rest of the year, Lurve and the Cementons - friends from Italy - enjoy a more relaxed way of life, although business is strong enough to stay open even in winter.

''The day after Christmas until January 10 it's a disaster,'' Lurve joked. ''There are people everywhere; the other 11 months it's very good.

''People ask why we don't move and open other shops, but we want [an] easy life … we have time to talk with the people,'' Lurve said.

Most of the time anyway; recently the shop has been the location for celebrity spotting. But Lurve and the Cementons claim they must have been too busy scooping gelato to notice the stars.

Canberra actress Mia Wasikowska and boyfriend Jessie Eisenberg, of The Social Network fame, were spotted there close to Christmas last year. Last month, filming of the Angelina Jolie directed film Unbroken swept into town.

There's been time to upgrade the store's branding - it celebrated its 10th birthday in December, but you can still make out the ''veterinary'' underneath ''gelati''. Don't expect it to change - the sign has become as well known as the gelato.