This is definitely a non-poker blog entry. I heard today that Demetrius passed away. When we purchased the building that was to become our ice cream/espresso store, one of the first people we met was our neighbor from across the street. His first words to us were, "You paid too much for the building". How he knew what we paid is still a mystery to me, but as I was to find out, there was little that happened in our small town that he did not know about first. He owned a very small motel, I think maybe 6 rooms, plus a condemned motel which the fire department later burned as a training excercise. When the property next door, a convenience store with apartments above, became available he quickly made an offer to the widow of the owner. Later he would sell both the burned hotel property and his other motel to a local lodging conglomerate who would build a quality motel and time-share properties on the land.
My most memorable experiences were the summer and fall that he "ran" the convenience store. He had purchased it lock stock and barrel and despite having no retail experience attempted to operate it. We had bought the nicer, bigger convenience store directly across the street but had some issues with the operation that summer involving our liquor license. Demetrius reaped a bounty as we basically forfeited all beer sales to him until after Labor Day. Once my license was in place I proceeded to build a huge wine business as I felt that was a great opportunity. Our store included a small contract post office (my obituary will include "postmaster of zip code 97145, Tolovana Park, Oregon"), and Demetrius came over every day to check for mail and mostly to check out what I was doing. They say that imitatation is the most sincere form of flattery, so I was extremely flattered when he copied literally anything that I did, including bringing in a huge wine selection. My favorite wine story is when I read that Greek Independence Day was approaching I put in a huge stock of Greek wines, then put a big sign in front of my store celebrating it! Poor Demetrius, the Greek native had zero Greek wines in stock. Score one for me!
I called him the "iron man". My normal closing time was 10 p.m. during the week, and 11:00 or so on the weekends. When I would lock the door, there he was, still open. I watched this for a long time and one night decided that I would stay open until I saw his lights go out. I would teach him a lesson about staying power!!! So, 10 o'clock came and went, then 11:00, finally around midnight I saw him leave. The only problem was, the next day I was toast. And of course when I closed, he was still open. Like I said, he was the iron man.
Anyway, after selling his motel and finally closing the store, he moved back to Portland. I saw him a couple of times over the next few years but his visits to Cannon Beach were few and far between. The convenience store was rented out to the buyers of my store and later to a succession of other tenants. His kids now are running the operation and I have heard rumors of some new business coming. I miss the old days and watching Demetrius running back and forth between his motel and store. He was one of a kind.
My most memorable experiences were the summer and fall that he "ran" the convenience store. He had purchased it lock stock and barrel and despite having no retail experience attempted to operate it. We had bought the nicer, bigger convenience store directly across the street but had some issues with the operation that summer involving our liquor license. Demetrius reaped a bounty as we basically forfeited all beer sales to him until after Labor Day. Once my license was in place I proceeded to build a huge wine business as I felt that was a great opportunity. Our store included a small contract post office (my obituary will include "postmaster of zip code 97145, Tolovana Park, Oregon"), and Demetrius came over every day to check for mail and mostly to check out what I was doing. They say that imitatation is the most sincere form of flattery, so I was extremely flattered when he copied literally anything that I did, including bringing in a huge wine selection. My favorite wine story is when I read that Greek Independence Day was approaching I put in a huge stock of Greek wines, then put a big sign in front of my store celebrating it! Poor Demetrius, the Greek native had zero Greek wines in stock. Score one for me!
I called him the "iron man". My normal closing time was 10 p.m. during the week, and 11:00 or so on the weekends. When I would lock the door, there he was, still open. I watched this for a long time and one night decided that I would stay open until I saw his lights go out. I would teach him a lesson about staying power!!! So, 10 o'clock came and went, then 11:00, finally around midnight I saw him leave. The only problem was, the next day I was toast. And of course when I closed, he was still open. Like I said, he was the iron man.
Anyway, after selling his motel and finally closing the store, he moved back to Portland. I saw him a couple of times over the next few years but his visits to Cannon Beach were few and far between. The convenience store was rented out to the buyers of my store and later to a succession of other tenants. His kids now are running the operation and I have heard rumors of some new business coming. I miss the old days and watching Demetrius running back and forth between his motel and store. He was one of a kind.
1 comment:
He sounds like a great guy. Good story. Sorry to hear of his passing.
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