FARMINGTON — A pair of business changes for Wilton Road will come before the Planning Board when they meet at 6 p.m. Monday, May 12, at the Municipal Building.
Plans for a new pizza and sub shop at 254 Wilton Road (Routes 2 and 4) have been submitted to the board by Vasilios Vlahakis of Rumford.
A preliminary discussion for construction of a Family Dollar building on a lot between Boivin’s Harvest House and HealthQuest Chiropractic is also on the board’s agenda.
No application has been submitted to the town, Code Enforcement Officer Steve Kaiser said. It’s a preliminary discussion about what’s needed before they come in for a review.
“I cannot confirm a Family Dollar store in Farmington,” Cliff Cermak, community affairs specialist for Family Dollar said in an email when the corporate office was contacted.
Vlahakis, the owner of the proposed pizza and sub shop, promises the area something different: his own creation, Basil’s pizza.
He has leased the C.N. Brown building, former site of Franklin County Chamber of Commerce and most recently Meadows, intending to open Basil’s Pizza & Subs if the board approves his plan on Monday.
Pizza — Basil’s, Boston style and perhaps Greek style, too — is only part of the plan. Fresh soups and salads made on the premises and sub sandwiches will be offered, he said. He’s still working on the menu.
“There will be some nice surprises,” he said.
Some decisions have to wait for the board review.
A tentative opening date is July 1 or sooner. Renovation work on the building will begin after Monday.
He anticipates being open seven days a week and to employ six to eight people, he said.
After 35 years in the pizza business, Vlahakis is expanding on what he already owns, a House of Pizza in Rumford and one in Dixfield.
“This is something different than the House of Pizza,” he said. “People are looking for something different.”
He promises good quality and pizza that won a customer survey for his shop in Vermont. It’s a different style, one he created after working and watching other pizza makers over the years, he said.
He has owned nine different shops and ran one in four New England states, he said.
His family started in the pizza business in Haverhill, Mass., in the 1960s, and his siblings own pizza shops. His brother owned Rumford House of Pizza and he came here to help him, Vlahakis said.
He took over the business because of the brother’s health issues and then expanded in to Dixfield.
Vlahakis likes the Farmington area and the people. He also likes the location of the C.N. Brown space.
His logo will embody the Greek word, “yasou.” It’s a greeting which has more than one meaning — health to you, hello and goodbye, he said.
abryant@sunjournal.com
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- The C.N. Brown building on Routes 2 and 4, also known as Wilton Road, in Farmington has been leased to a Rumford man who wants to open Basil’s Pizza & Subs there.
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