CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio — The third-generation, family-owned, Zagara’s Marketplace on Lee Road in Cleveland Heights is closing on Oct. 21, but another family-owned business is taking over.
“It’s bittersweet. It’s definitely bittersweet,” said John Zagara, the owner.
Most shoppers at Zagara’s Marketplace know the place and the people there, like the back of their hand.
“Probably 20 plus years I’ve been coming here,” said shopper Kenya White. “I love their produce, their bakery. You get to know the employees.”
Lamar James has lived next door for decades.
“Everybody in here, they know each other, you know? You might bump into some friends or coworkers,” he said.
It has been a staple in Greater Cleveland since 1936, the year John Zagara’s grandfather, Charles, opened up in Cleveland. In 1988 Zagara’s father moved it to Cleveland Heights and Zagara himself moved It to its current location on Lee Road in Cleveland Heights in 2002.
“We built this store. I developed it from scratch,” he said. “The history is long.”
For the past 86 years, the single, independent family store sustained through good times and bad.
“We went through all the prior recessions and all the prior downturns,” he said. “I think the question is how can a single store, independent, do what we did? The answer is in consumer behavior in Cleveland Heights. We have a very strong following of independent-minded, business customers.”
Zagara said the key ingredient in the family recipe to success was quality in both the product and their patrons, and the appreciation given back to those customers.
“It wasn’t unlike my father to pull out a $20 bill out of his pocket and give it to a customer who was short, or hurting or out of work,” he said.
But Zagara said the pandemic, followed by the current environment, came with unprecedented challenges. He said he wasn’t pushing his four children to take on the family business, so he decided it was time to hang up his hat.
“I felt like if I didn’t do something now then I might not be able to do something later. I have to sell or I have to close and I didn’t want to close. The question was who could we find that could carry on the family tradition and that family independent tradition and Dave’s became the match.”
Dave’s Market will be acquiring the Lee Road location and transitioning Zagara’s 75 employees to become Dave’s Market employees.
“They have this commitment to the neighborhood and the consumer and their employees and this is what’s important,” said Zagara.
Dave’s Market is a fifth-generation owned family business with 11 other locations throughout Northeast Ohio.
They’ll be closing the Dave’s Market at Cedar, Fairmount, and opening at Zagara’s location on Oct. 29.
