Stelio Frankis and daughter Marilena Katopodis with friends
The Agiasmos, officiated by Bishop Apostolos and Fathers, from left, Gerasimos, Dennis, Nektarios, Dionysios and John
Peter and Athanasios Mamais
Maria Frankis, Marilena Katopodis, John Frankis and Nick Katopodis
Evangelia Frakis with friends
Faye and Thomas Tsamis with daughter Calliope and Peter & Maria Mamais
Nick Sahlaras with Chris Cavvadas
Thedore Stamas, Steve Valiotis
Nick Katopodis and Maria Zoitas holding a photo of their late mother Efrosini
From left, Michael, Vangelis and Alex Gerasimou
According to Tsiatis, by combining the best aspects of various types of markets, North Shore Farms enables its customers to tailor their shopping experience to their specific needs. “The company slogan Eat Well, Live Better is a driving force. There is a little bit of a philosophy that you see on display when you actually walk through the store. You’ll see in any aisle in any product category there’s going to be a whole array of options, from the generic to the highly specialty. So you’ll have everything from like Krasdale and Goya olive oil, to Greek olive oil, to Moroccan organic pressed olive oil and everything in between. Really the driving force there is we want our customers to make the choice for themselves what they want to either splurge on or spend on and what they want the budget version of. So rather than get too preachy about it and tell them we only give you organic options or we only give you generic options we try to give them as broad an array of options as possible and let them decide for themselves what they want.”
Michael Gerasimou, Stelio Katopodis and Marilena Katopodis Jim & Bessie Ziozis and George Patilis
From left, Gina Frankis, Stelio & Angelo Nick Katopodis, Katopodis, Athanasios Mamais Soteres Tsadaris
Besides items for purchase, North Shore Farms locations regularly host in-store events and samplings. “Store guests get to explore the fresh produce section and talk to the staff about freshly-baked goods, the fresh seafood and meat selections, the seemingly limitless supply of cheeses, and the aisles of ready-toeat prepared foods—many of which are available to sample. Cooking demonstrations from local vendors will also be a regular part of the shopping experience,” says Tsiatis. One such event occurred on December 22nd, when the Whitestone location hosted a signing for cookbook author Maria Zoitas. “We’ll host that type of thing at a number of our stores from time to time. We have a few of those a year and we do have regularly cooking demonstrations and sampling throughout our stores on a more ongoing basis as well.” North Shore Farms stores also offer catering service, as well as online ordering at the Commack location.
Gregory Sioris with Steve Frankis
Though North Shore Farms has eight locations, and an Agiasmos/blessing was performed at each opening at the request of the owners, the Whitestone branch is the first store to open near an area with a strong Greek population, both with the community in Whitestone itself and the nearby, and still predominantly Greek Astoria, Bayside and Flushing. According to Tsiatis, “North Shore Farms is really grateful to the community for welcoming them, specifically to the Chamber of Commerce, to Senator Tony Avella who was very supportive of us in the process and just various members of the community that have really welcomed us.” The Whitestone North Shore Farms store is located at 153-01 10th Avenue. All North Shore Farms locations are open seven days a week, from 7:00am to 10:00pm. To learn more, their website is northshorefarms.com
NEWS & NOTES
JANUARY 2019
53