Jackson Michigan News and Information, News for Jackson MI

Albion once had numerous downtown merchants of Greek heritage in the early and mid-20th century. Names like Pete Bournelis, Nick Kavalaris, Nick Kostianes, George and John Liyeos, George Mitchell, John Momtsios, Nick Pappas, Peter Papadopoulos, Samuel Vafiadis, Gus Vervaras, Nick Vournakis, John Yerongtios and others come to mind.

Most of these were in the restaurant or candy-ice cream business, with the exception of Pete Bournelis who was a shoe cobbler and namesake of Bournelis Park in downtown Albion.

One prominent early 20th century Greek merchant in Albion was Speros Andritsakes (1873-1959). A native of Goritsa, Greece, he came to the United States in March, 1890. He subsequently became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1894 in Youngstown, Ohio, where he was living at the time. He then moved to Titusville, Pennsylvania where he worked for a Greek fruit merchant there.

Speros moved to Albion and in April, 1910 opened his Albion Confectionary store at 303 S. Superior St. This store was located in the south half of the “Dalrymple Block,” present-day site of the Kids ‘N Stuff Museum (formerly J. C Penney location). Speros lived upstairs above the store, as was the custom of the time. Speros had numerous high school and college-age customers. Beginning in September, 1912 he began placing full page back cover advertisements in the Albion High School Breeze monthly magazines. He also advertised in the Albion College Pleiad newspaper, and the Albionian yearbooks. He advertised hot and cold drinks, sodas, sundaes, homemade candy and later, short-order lunches.

Speros brought in Nicholas Kostianes (1890-1960) as a business partner in 1914. Nick had come to America from Greece in September, 1908. The duo called their business “Andritsakes & Kostianes.” Ironically, Nick’s future wife Antoinette Andritsakes (1908-1990) was a distant relative of Speros.

Speros returned to Greece in late 1918 to marry his bride, Katherine in 1919, and then returned to Albion with her in 1920. They had two children here, both of which died in infancy, including a daughter Anastasia (1921) who is buried in Riverside Cemetery. A son was born here on January 10, 1923 and died in infancy in Greece. Speros and family returned to Greece in July 1923, and did not return to the United States. There he had more children and raised them in his native land. Speros died in Goritsa in April, 1959 at the age of 86, and was buried there.

Amazingly, Speros’ Greek-born son Panagiotis “Peter” (1930-1994) came to Albion in 1947 at age 17. Peter worked for his father’s former business partner Nick Kostianes, until he was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1950 and served in Korea. Upon his return from the service however, Peter relocated in Pennsylvania where he went into the restaurant business for himself.

Regarding the Albion Confectionery after Speros had returned to Greece, the fall, 1923 Albion High School Breeze advertisements name the new owners as “Kostianes and Papadopoulos.” The latter was Peter Papadopoulos, who apparently was only there a short time before he opened his own Albion Lunch restaurant at 217 E. Erie St. In December, 1923 a couple of months later, the name switches to the “Kostianes Brothers,” which would be Nick, Peter, and Demosthenes. In 1929 the store was moved to 203 S. Superior St. (presently the Bohm II Theatre location), and was eventually renamed “Nick’s Sweet Shop.” Today you can still see the name “Nick’s Place” on the mosaic tiles in the entranceway to the front door. It closed on January 23, 1956. Nick and his wife retired and moved to the Washington D.C. area where their son and daughter lived.

From our Historical Notebook this week we present a 1923 photograph of Albion merchant Speros Andritsakes, courtesy of his grandson Spiros Andritsakis of Greece. How many of our readers are of Greek ancestry?