Uniqueness is what Olive Tree Marketplace owner Chris Stavros attributes his success to after 35 years of operating his upscale grocery store and deli in Ocean Beach.
“We call it a quirky and unique selection because that is exactly what it is,” said the shopkeeper of his inventory. He added, “We will have dye for Greek Easter eggs, and then on the other side we’ll have sun-dried tomatoes. You can get all sorts of different crazy things at the Olive Tree Market – like 100 bottles of hot sauce.”
Asked what OB was like when he took over what was then Night & Day Market at 4805 Narragansett Ave. in 1987, Stavros, a native Obecian, replied: “Way different, just a whole different dynamic. The community felt a little more dedicated to the small-town feel.”
Stavros added transacting business nowadays is much more difficult and challenging.
“Customers move with trends,” he noted. “And your presence as a business depends on how active you are on Instagram, Facebook, etc. The younger crowd, if you don’t keep a pulse on that part of your clientele – then you’re losing some of it. You have to make sure you have some social media presence to capture that sector of the market.”
The Olive Tree site has been a grocery store since the early 1940s. Pointing out Night & Day “needed a facelift” when he took it over, Stavros had just returned from Italy where he was influenced by small businesses over there, which he said, “carried everything you needed to supplement your life for one or two days. So I brought some of those ideas back.”
Stavros worked across the street at Victory Liquor in his family’s business before the opportunity to take over Night & Day presented itself. He had no prior grocery experience and compensated for that, he said, “by traveling up and down the state of California before I opened, taking pictures of little markets. I saw that brick was a really neat feature of a vintage market. So we added brick. I wanted the feel to be more of a Midwest, East-Coast type of little market.”
Opening up July 3, 35 years ago, Stavros said, “We absolutely killed it and it was a bit overwhelming. What products I did have on the shelf were pretty much sold out the next few days.”
Stavros noted he recently did “record business” for nine months after COVID hit and while local restaurants were closed. But then he noted there was a supply issue. And then there was an employment issue after that, which still exists. “There’s a multitude of issues that we are dealing with that we had never faced before,” he added.
The owner of Olive Tree is grooming a couple of employees to run the business when the time comes. He is quick to point out he has turned down numerous requests by corporations to sell them the property, voicing his commitment to keeping it as a mom-and-pop shop.
Discussing how his upscale market got its name, Stavros noticed a Peach Tree Brandy on the shelves while still working at the liquor store and thought, ‘I should incorporate the word tree into (the name). I looked across the street at two olive trees on the Beardsley-Mitchel (mortuary) property. And I thought, “I’m Greek, and olives are a large product of Greece. It can be gourmet. And it just fit very well. So I called it the Olive Tree Market. Olives and olive oil are very good for you. We’ve got a good selection of both here.”
Stavros admits he got into the grocery-deli business “at a really good time. It became part of my life, and after I acquired the property, it started to become part of my DNA. I lived close and it’s been a very comfortable life for me.”
Looking ahead, Stavros wants to pass Olive Tree along to those who will appreciate having an independent, small business in a small town.
“It’s a legacy that I really want to stay in OB through the next generation, and we’re hoping to keep it small for another generation,” he concluded.
