The supermarket chain has grown since Thomas Ritchie founded IGA in Frankston in 1870, with more than 1400 store locations across Australia.
Celebrating its 150th birthday, the business hired Matthew Keating to visit all the Ritchies stores to spread some joy and knowledge of the company's humble beginnings.
“I came across this campaign through a director when I was in a movie, who knew my background of 19th century historical interpretation,” Mr Keating said.
“So when the director came to do the television commercial for Ritchies, the board told them this plan to have a living, breathing Thomas Ritchie to visit all the stores to spread awareness that we are still community-focused, Australian owned, independent grocery chain.”
Mr Keating was given the role of Thomas Ritchie at the end of 2019.
The tour was originally set to take place in 2020 but was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“Personally as an actor having been hit hard by the coronavirus, I'm very happy to visit stores and get back to work again,” Mr Keating said.
Mr Keating studied at the University of Ballarat and said being a regional resident helped him avoid lockdowns in metropolitan Melbourne.
“The senior citizens are really enjoying it because they see a uniform that is not unfamiliar and they want to reminisce about the earlier days,” he said.
“The kids are also amused, which is great.”
Ritchies IGA Cobram store manager Mandy Hawke has worked at Ritchies for 18 years and said it was great to have something different in the store.
“All this was meant to happen last year so ‘Thomas’ is going to visit all 74 stores and hand out some books and gift vouchers along the way,” she said.
“IGA is certainly a fantastic company to work for and are very family-orientated.”
The 150th birthday also marks more than $50 million raised for local charities through the Community Benefits program.
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