The Daniilidis corner shop

Theodoros Daniilidis, born in 1914 in Sarayköy, Smyrna, and his family (his widowed mother, Kyriaki, and his siblings, Panagiotis, Eleni, Elisavet and Ioannis) finally managed to resettle in Nea Ionia, Volos, after many hardships. Starting from Sarayköy, where the family of Theodoros’ father, who died in 1918, owned a large store, they wandered around the Asia Minor mainland until they reached Ikonio (Konya). From there, the Turkish authorities sent them to Smyrna. From Smyrna, they made it to Lesvos and then, finally, to Volos where they stayed at a tobacco warehouse known as the Yellow Warehouse on the corner of Anthimou Gazi Street and Vassani Street. While there, his sister, Elisavet, contracted typhus and died soon afterwards.

Theodoros Daniilidis first worked as an assistant at Falouka’s pharmacy on Kartali Street and then became an apprentice to a Jewish merchant called Sam. During this time, he got a plank which he used to sell sundries, hair ties and pins as a peddler around Nea Ionia and other Volos neighbourhoods. He was just 14 years old. Theodoros saved the money he made peddling to start his own business. With Sam as his guarantor, he procured merchandise from the Papageorgiou textile factory, replaced the plank with a cart and started also selling fabrics, towels and slippers. He would work at fairs and bazaars, and on Sundays he would sell his wares outside churches. According to his daughter, Kiki Daniilidou, her father had all the necessary attributes of an excellent travelling vendor: quick wit, a loud, interesting voice, and a sociable personality.

A few years later, Theodoros went into business with his brother, Panagiotis, and opened a small shop on the corner of what used to be Dorylaiou (today Ionos) Street and Prousis Street. During the German occupation, Panagiotis moved their merchandise to Milies and Theodoros left for Athens to seek employment. After the liberation, they reopened their shop and soon expanded by buying nearby refugee houses. The Daniilidis store carried a wide variety of goods, as mentioned in the store’s advertisement, written in rhyming verse by Ioannis Vrakidis in 1960: ‘There’s a store in Ionia which sells cheap, modern, sturdy textiles in great  variety and for every taste. It’s the store of the Daniilidis Brothers; so large that no matter what you’re after, you’re sure to find it.’

In 1953, Theodoros Daniilidis married Eleni Tzavara and the couple had three children, Enangelos, Kyriaki and Apostolis. Theodoros died in 1983 and the store was operated by his siblings, Eleni and Panagiotis, until 1985. Then the company passed on to Theodoros’ son, Apostolis, who continued his father’s legacy by operating a store on Dimokratias Street for 28 years. In 2008, the Daniilidis store moved back to the corner of 49 Prousis Street and Ionos where it operates to this day as a retail clothing store.