The decision to close Yianni’s after the restaurant had operated for more than 20 years was difficult, but harsh economic realities made it necessary, owner Buster Holloway said Saturday.
The restaurant closed Friday, and Holloway said he was grateful for the employees and the many supportive customers.
“My employees, they’ve been faithful,” he said. “They’re here today cleaning up.”
Holloway and his wife, Joyce, who live in Indianola, had owned the restaurant since 2001. They bought it from Yianni and Elaine Isaak, who opened it in 1990.
It was the first venture into the restaurant business for Holloway, who has years of experience in the petroleum business for companies including Lipscomb Oil, Gresham Petroleum, Scott Petroleum and Bostick Brothers.
He said he made an investment in Yianni’s to support the career ambitions of his son, Ryan Holloway, who came to Greenwood from Cleveland in 2001 to manage the restaurant. Buster Holloway, who is now 77, said he hoped to turn ownership over to his son one day.
Ryan Holloway and his wife, Candice, moved to Fairhope, Ala., earlier this month.
Buster Holloway said business was strong at Yianni’s in the early days of the family’s ownership. At one time, Viking Range Corp. was sending busloads of people there two nights a week, he said.
But things changed after the ter rorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2011, and the subsequent economic problems that affected all kinds of businesses, he said. In the end, they no longer had the operating capital to keep Yianni’s going, and they searched for three weeks for a buyer but were unsuccessful.
The business had 21 employees — four of them full-time — and some had been there since it opened. Running a restaurant is difficult, and “we couldn’t have done it without them,” Joyce Holloway said. “They’re hard workers.”
The building on Yalobusha Street is listed with Sims Realty. Buster Holloway said he will make an effort to sell it to someone to run as a restaurant first before offering it for another use.
Greenwood needs a restaurant like Yianni’s, and the building’s location and parking should be points in its favor, he said.
“It’s got a lot of potential,” he said. “This is the place to be if they want to be in the restaurant business.”
Holloway said much work and expense lies ahead. Taxes still must be paid, the insurance must be kept up to date and the lights have to be kept on so the place can be shown to prospective buyers, he said. There also are decisions to be made about what to do with the inventory.
But he is confident that the situation will work out.
“I’m just praying there’s a buyer out there waiting for me, “he said.
He and his wife said they had received a lot of support in recent weeks.
“Greenwood’s been good to us, and we appreciate all the business we’ve had,” Joyce Holloway said.
- Contact David Monroe at 581-7236 or dmonroe@
gwcommonwealth.com.
