SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - It was an emotional day serving food for Mykonos restaurant.
What You Need To Know
- Eastfield Mall is expected to close for good this weekend
- Mykonos is a Greek family-owned restaurant at Eastfield Mall that will be relocating to Main Street in downtown Springfield sometime in October after nearly 40-years of business inside the mall
- Around 40 minority-owned businesses occupied space at the Eastfield Mall before the announcement that it was closing this past spring
- JCPenney, Macy's and Sears were once apart of the Eastfield Mall as well before it closed
The family business has been at Eastfield Mall for nearly 40 years.
They said it was tough this past Spring when they found out they along with around 40 other minority-owned businesses in the mall would soon have to close their doors for good.
"Oh, it's devastating. We saw it coming though," said Mykonos owner Chris Hatzis. "We get choked up just talking about it. We knew it was coming. All good things come to an end."
It's been a difficult last few months for Hatzis as well as shoppers who have been coming to the mall for years.
"Listen, I'm feeling a lot of emotions right now," said Roberto Rivera. "I grew up coming to this mall. My family, you know, the reason why I'm here is because- you know trying to bring some memories back and you know and bringing my little one- you know just a little emotional- just because my grandma died of cancer and she used to bring me here all the time."
"Once we lost the anchors up here," Hatzis said. "JCPenney, and Macy's and Sears, traffic started to slow down. It's all online shopping now, but you can't get fresh food online from Amazon or other distributors like that."
On Friday, most of the businesses inside the mall had already shut down.
Hatzis said it was always his intention to stay open until last day.
The restaurant plans to relocate in the center of Springfield, but not before taking some much-needed time to relax.
"Well the next couple of months we're gonna put our time into the construction of the new restaurant," Hatzis said. "And we're gonna take off for Greece in a couple weeks. Me and my wife were gonna see my parents. They've been retired there for the last 10 years, on the water. So we're going to relax for a couple weeks and then come back and get busy."
Eastfield Mall will officially close its doors by the end of the weekend. Hatzis said he's grateful for all of the community support to this point and expects to reopen the restaurant on Main Street in downtown Springfield sometime in October.