Last Minute Pascha Shopping and an Update
Happy Friday, today's blog will be a shorter one, but is definitely long overdue. After closing our retail operations in November of 2022, our online and physical presence went dormant for a spell. We focused more on our wholesale operations, bettering our processes and envisioning a plan for the business. I have now come into the business, and have a vision of a strong online footprint for Nick's. Hence why the website has been redesigned for a better customer experience...and we now release these wonderful weekly blogs. In today's blog, I will remind our faithful Richmond customer base that we are open...sort of (I'll explain below), and give a list of a few last minute Pascha (Easter) necessities that you can come by and pick up during Holy Week.
Nick Mourtzakis (shortened to Mouris) opened his first storefront in 1959. The store only sold produce...it was what he knew. A few years later, around 1962, he began to carry his first "Greek" products, feta cheese and olives. Since the mid 60s, Nick's has only grown their collection of Greek and Mediterranean grocery items. After moving the storefront's location to W. Broad Street in 1980, business slowed, as not many people knew the Nick's name. Nick began to make sandwiches for some of the store's neighbors to pass the time during lunch, and the sandwiches instantly became a hit. So much so that Nick's began to operate an entirely new entity of their business, a sub shop. The Nick's sandwiches are what many inside the city attributed the store to for over 30 years. Many were puzzled when Nick's announced that the sandwich shop was closing in 2015, and once again, a decision had to be made, this time by Nick's son, Manuel. Where to go from here? The final move to the Westwood Ave. location allowed for a calmer day-to-day, without nearly as much foot traffic as Broad Street, but much more space to store cases upon cases of feta, olives, gyro meat, pita bread, etc. The Westwood Ave. location initially did offer a storefront, but the decision was made to focus solely on the wholesale operations. Now, it is my turn in a series of (now the 3rd generation) Mouris's to answer the question, where to go from here?
Do I have an answer to that question yet? Honestly, no , but I can tell you all how things stand now. While Apple Maps still might say Permanently Closed next to our name when you look up directions (side note...this is very annoying, I got Google to change our information within a few hours, and I have been on support with Apple customer service about a million times with no responses) we are not closed to the public. Instead, since we are fortunate to have a large enough space, we rent out the old storefront, but have a set up in the back of the building for our walk-in customers. The set up consists of most of your necessities, specifically packaged items that we sell by the case to restaurants, but can break open for the everyday shopper. We are open from 8am-3pm Monday through Thursday, and ask for our customers to call ahead on Fridays, just to make sure we are at the store. Usually, the warehouse garage will be open in the back of the warehouse, if not, there is a blue side door to enter through. We ask our customers to please DO NOT enter in the front, that space is rented, and not ours to disturb. There is plenty of parking in the back. I feel that not having this set-up would be a huge disservice to customers who have supported us for decades! While it is not perfected, it is here to stay for now.
Lastly, I would like to touch on a few products that you may want to get this upcoming week for Pascha. We have a full stock of Tsoureki...if you are ambitious enough to try and make your own, we have both Mastica and Mahlep, two of the key ingredients which may be hard to find at a supermarket. We also have Red Egg dye, a necessity to carry on the Orthodox tradition of cracking eggs in celebration of the Resurrection. In addition to these items, we continue to carry plenty of Feta, Pastries, Pastas, Oils, and more to supplement your Pascha celebration.
Thank you for reading along through this brief recap. I hope that you all have a nice weekend and a Blessed Holy Week. Next week's blog will be about Pascha and its importance for the Orthodox faith.
- Nick's