Memorial services for popular S.F. grocer Gus Vardakastanis to be held Thursday

Sue Rugtiv places her note on a memorial board for Gus Vardakastanis at the Haight Street Market. Sue Rugtiv places her note on a memorial board for Gus Vardakastanis at the Haight Street Market. Photo: Mason Trinca, Special To The Chronicle Photo: Mason Trinca, Special To The Chronicle Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Memorial services for popular S.F. grocer Gus Vardakastanis to be held Thursday 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

A memorial ceremony for grocery store owner Konstantinos “Gus” Vardakastanis will be held Thursday night at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in San Francisco.

Mr. Vardakastanis, the founder and owner of three neighborhood grocery stores in the city, was killed early Friday by a hit-and-run driver while buying produce for his stores at the San Francisco Wholesale Produce Market in the Bayview District.

Born in Greece, he came to the United States when he was 16, following his father, Dimitri, also a grocer.

In 1981, Mr. Vardakastanis and his wife, Georgia, founded Haight Street Market, which they later relocated a block away, to 1530 Haight St. They later opened Noriega Produce in the Outer Sunset and in 2015, with sons Dimitri and Bobby, founded Gus’s Community Market in the Mission District.

Mr. Vardakastanis, 57, had a reputation for high standards and good deals on produce and other groceries, but he also was known for his kindness under a gruff exterior. Regular customers recounted him slipping them free bottles of his homemade olive oil and wine, which he had produced on a small vineyard and orchard on his family’s Sonoma County property.

Since his death last week, customers, staff and friends have set up small shrines in his honor at his markets and at the San Francisco Wholesale Produce Market, which issued a statement about him.

“Gus Vardakastanis was a fixture at the San Francisco Wholesale Produce Market for more than 40 years,” it said. “He was a valued customer, a professional colleague and, most importantly, a cherished friend to many. His passing is a great loss that is felt deeply here and in the neighborhoods he and his family served so long and so well.”

Mr. Vardakastanis’ sons have been in charge of day-to-day operations of the grocery stores for several years, Dimitri Vardakastanis said, and there are no plans to make changes to the business.

“No one was more confident or proud of the business,” he said of his father. “There’s nothing that represents us more as a family than our business.”

The investigation into Mr. Vardakastanis’ death is continuing. Just minutes before he was struck by a silver sedan on Jerrold Avenue near Toland Street, the city ShotSpotter system detected gunfire less than a mile away, at the intersection of McKinnon and Newhall avenues. Police won’t say whether the incidents were connected.

Anyone with information on the hit-and-run is asked to call the San Francisco Police Department’s tip line at (415) 575-4444 or text TIP411, beginning the message with “SFPD.”

In addition to his wife and sons, Mr. Vardakastanis is survived by his mother,Eleni, and sister Angelika Skiadopoulos, who live on the Greek island of Zakynthos, where Vardakastanis was from; his brother, Yianni of Athens; and four grandchildren.

The memorial service will begin at 7 p.m. at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in San Francisco, 999 Brotherhood Way. A funeral service is planned for the next day at 11 a.m. in the same location.

Tara Duggan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tduggan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @taraduggan