Astoria's United Brothers Fruit Market Attracts a Plethora of Patrons
Astoria, New York's popular United Brothers Fruit Market is swiftly gaining attention throughout all of the city's boroughs.
The bustling produce store is open all day, everyday, and lies in the heart of Astoria on 30th Avenue, just steps away from the nearest subway station. As the New York Times reports, proprietor Tom Kourkoumelis is the only United Brothers brother who has not retired and relocated to Florida.
The 61-year-old Greek man still remains in his brightly-lit shop for 10 hours per day almost everyday, except when he is visiting Greece. Along with his brothers George and Jerry, Kourkoumelis immigrated to Manhattan in 1969 from Kephalonia, where they met two other siblings Damianos and Spiro Matafias.
The native Greeks opened their first United Brothers Fruit Market in 1974 in Washington Heights. However, they relocated to Astoria a couple years after due to crime. The plethora of United Brother Fruit Market patrons are easily identified by their bright yellow shopping bags, that can be seen from Soho to Long Island and beyond.
