Harry’s Main Street Grille is closing up shop this month after 70 years of serving hungry Westminster locals.
Restaurant owner Harry Sirinakis held a gathering at his home on June 5, where he announced his plans to retire to 90 community members in attendance. Sirinakis, who has run family business for 30 years, later expressed his gratitude to loyal customers on the restaurant’s Facebook page.
"We are grateful for your friendship and your patronage,..because of you Harry's not only survived in the face of increased competition year after year..we changed, invested in downtown and grew," Sirinakis said to customers in the post.
Sirinakis’ grandparents, Harry and Bessie, opened Harry’s Main Street Grille as Harry’s Lunch in December 1946 at the corner of John and Main Streets. His parents, George and Zoe Sirinakis, took over eight years later, and the restaurant relocated to its current location at 65 W. Main Street in July 1976. Sirinakis took the helm in 1986.
He told ABC2 that he wants heartbroken customers to know he’s retiring from the restaurant business, but not from life itself.
“Everything has its season and things change. It’s time to move on,” Sirinakis said. “It’s bittersweet.”
Customers have taken to Facebook saying the end of Harry’s, known for its “hot dogs with all the trimmings,” will leave an empty space in both the Carroll County community, and in regulars’ stomachs.
“I hate seeing family businesses close. They treat people with respect and kindness. I will truly miss the coleslaw, but most of all their connection to our city and their love for their customers/family,” one customer wrote.
It’s that connection to community that Sirinakis is most proud of. He said each generation of his family put a lot of work into building Harry's, yet it’s time for someone else to take the reins. While the future of Harry’s Main Street Grille hasn’t been determined, Sirinakis said a few parties have expressed interest, and a new ownership decision could be made in the next few months.
In the meantime, doors will close on Saturday and food will be served until it runs out, Sirinakis said, from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dinner will no longer be served. All outstanding gift cards from 2015 and 2016 will be honored.
“It’s a part of my life that I will not soon forget,” he said. “We want people to celebrate it rather than feel bad about it. Everyone helped to get us to this point.”
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