Tonight while walking with my sweetie on West 4th Ave, I had a sudden urge to get my snack on. We found ourselves in Romios Greek Taverna and during dinner our waitress passed on some surprising information.
The owner of Romios has sold the business and they close in one week. I couldn’t even get a cider with my meal because they discontinued liquor orders last week (when they stop buyin’ booze, you know the end is near). This cozy family-owned restaurant has been a fixture on West 4th for 27 years. The place will be gutted, renovated and re-open as another restaurant. Our waitress looked to be in a state of shock… hope she finds work elsewhere.
Is it just me or has anybody else noticed the slow gentrification of West 4th? Apparently, we needed both Telus and Bell hawking cel phones in the same block. Goodbye Touch of Sweden.
Last modified: August 30, 2005
I talked to the owner of Touch of Sweden and she claims that her landlord jacked her rent to $7,000 per month!!! That’s a lot of clogs. Her shoe repair shop neighbour is out as of tomorrow and looking for new retail space too.
Romios is gone$*&^%##@! Is nothing sacred …
It is really sad what is happening on 4th. This is what’s called progress I suppose. The irony is that 4th avenue became such a successful shopping area because it had different stores with a variety of merchandize – and it\’s these successful small businesses that are now being squeezed out…..Victims of their own success I suppose!