WORCESTER – With the seconds that a flaming match takes to slowly bring to life the tip of a cigar, the Owl Shop Inc. on Main Street has offered a pause button for customers looking from the tobacco shop’s window into the world hurriedly shoving past City Hall.

That image is more than 76 years old, dating back to the day that the shop was established in Worcester by George Photakis.

Three generations later, grandson and owner Zack Photakis, 39, has decided to move the shop away from Massachusetts to southern New Hampshire, citing business reasons.

“It’s time,” said Photakis. “I’m at peace with it.”

The shop and its name find roots in 1934, when Photakis’ great aunt, Catherine, and her husband, Joseph St. John, started the shop with wisdom as the theme.

A symbol of wisdom, the owl was chosen as the mascot for the store, taking inspiration from Greek mythology, where the Photakis last name comes from.

“Most big decisions that have been made throughout the course of time have been talked about has involved a smoke-filled room,” said Photakis. “You come here, you sit down and it's kind of like a brain trust.”

The style of the shop carried over to Worcester in 1946, when at the Bay State Building at 289 Main St., George Photakis, a World War II veteran, partnered with brother-in-law St. John to run a store which wasn’t exclusive to tobacco products.

During that time, the store saw a famous customer: John F. Kennedy, who favored a 5.5-inch H. Upmann Petit Corona, George Photakis once told a reporter.

The store sold anything from “tennis rackets to rifles and cutlery to music boxes,” a business model that carried over in 1968 to today’s location at 416 Main St., where the shelves also picked up beer and wine, music boxes, board games and even candy, according to Zack.

John Photakis, the son of George, added his own touch to the store in the 1970s with a passion for pipe making which he had learned from pipe makers in New York.

“He was a dreamer,” said Photakis of his father, who he credited with inventing the Tee-Gar, a cigar holder for golf players.

When Photakis’ life was cut at the age of 51 in a car accident in 2002, Zack took over after years of seeing the business grow from a young age.

“I used to get my diapers changed in this store,” said Photakis. “I worked in here at a young age whether it was packing tobacco or wiping the counters down.

“I’ve always had a love for being in here.”

Photakis used the word “love” for the tobacco business with conviction, often traveling to countries where the production of tobacco is well-developed, such as Nicaragua, Honduras and the Dominican Republic.

Seeing the production of tobacco from seed to sales, he also brought some over the years to feature behind the store’s glass counters as the biggest sellers such as Padrón and Debonaire.

What’s missing from the store are flavored products, which since the June 1, 2020 ban in the state, stressed more on the business on top of already pressing taxation on sales, according to Photakis.

Even though a location in New Hampshire has not been picked yet, Photakis said that with zero sale and excise taxation, the move is better for the business that he wants to run.

“I can bring back 20-plus different blends that we produced over the years of being in business immediately,” said Photakis. “That was a product that we were stripped of and I will then again be able to offer which is really important.

“This isn't a child shop,” said Photakis. “It’s an adult shop and at the same time to deny people that are of age what they want to do is sad."

The last day of the store is not decided yet, but Photakis anticipates closing doors sometime in the end of December.

Once moving with his family to a location in southern New Hampshire, where the store will also be located, the location of the Owl Shop will be sold.

Photakis will also turn to online sales in addition to the store, but the specifics are not yet set in stone.

“From the day I lock the doors, I'm gonna do something for myself and just take a little time to relax, breathe some fresh air, maybe experience a little bit of what normal life is like,” said Photakis. “I’ll dive back in (in) the spring at which point our website will be completely redone and locked in with our inventory system.”

Return to telegram.com for more on this story.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: The Owl Shop on Main Street in Worcester to close; JFK shopped there