Cusacks Furniture Store this year has been celebrating a century of trade, a remarkable achievement in the still-young, 105-year-old city of Canberra.

Stan Cusack opened the business originally in the main street of Yass in 1918 and then moved it to Canberra in 1927.

"He rode a bicycle from Yass to Canberra to buy the land [in an auction]," Stan's son David, 88, said.

The Manuka store, on the corner of Flinders Way and Franklin Street, opened the same year as the original Parliament House.

"Canberra was proclaimed as the capital and Stan thought, 'Well, Canberra's going to be bigger than Yass'," his grandson Peter Cusack said.

The family moved the business from Manuka to Kingston in 1938. The store was rebuilt after a devastating fire in 1976 due to an electrical fault.

Cusacks consolidated to Fyshwick in 2011, and seven years later is celebrating a century in business, still run by the family, led by Peter.

David, who was involved in the business since boyhood, was proud to see the store still successful after 100 years.

"I think it's a great achievement," he said.

"It's very rarely done with a family business these days."

Peter said they had survived the onslaught of national bricks-and-mortar competitors as well as pressure from online sales.

"Anybody who opens, regardless of what is is, furniture, travels, computers, it doesn't matter what is it, they're all our competitors as far as discretionary spending goes," he said.

"I think we've just done things a little bit differently to everyone else. Our product range is unique to us."

David added: "And personal service. It's very important".

The broader family celebrated the 100th birthday of the business at the National Arboretum in October.

It was a long way from 1918 in Yass. Stan's father John Joseph Cusack was a Labor politician in Yass. Stan took over the family blacksmithing business when he was just 14 so his father could pursue politics.

But a twist of fate set up the family legacy.

"Stan, as the story goes, had a very sweet tooth and he went into a second-hand store in Yass to buy this ice cream-making machine and got into discussions with the proprietor and instead of buying the ice cream machine, he bought the business," Peter said, with a laugh.

"It was pretty much second-hand goods then and it started from there. Then he got into furniture and carpets and rugs, new goods and that's where his business started."

David said the early days of the business were "hard work".

The goods mainly came by road from Sydney in the family truck.

"It was an ex-army World War Two number so it would have been fairly primitive," Peter said.

Stan bought a house in Arthur Circle where David would grow up and continue to live with his wife Elizabeth and raise his own family.

Can the family do another 100 in business?

"You never know. It's possibly in the kids' hands," Peter said.

"We're proud of what we do. We must be doing something right if we're still here. Your reputation and integrity are the most important things."