Co-owner Mike Shamos says the Quality Shop, which has been in his family since 1945, needs a new generation of owners to keep it going.

A mom-and-pop store that has served one of Portland’s most vibrant neighborhoods for more than 80 years is for sale.

But if co-owner Mike Shamos has his way, the Quality Shop will remain largely unchanged in Deering Center for decades to come.

Shamos, who owns the store with his business partner, George Gagliarde, said he could see the new owners wanting to tweak a few things. A new deli cooler might make sense, he said.

But he said the winning formula that has sustained the convenience store during decades of turmoil in the industry doesn’t need a big change. Mostly, Shamos said, the store – complete with a nonworking pay phone, just for looks – needs a new generation of owners to keep it going.

“It’s time for some young people to take over,” he said.

Shamos’ grandfather, Elias Shamos, a Greek immigrant who moved to Portland from Brockton, Massachusetts, bought the shop from another owner in 1945. Shamos’ father, Steve, then took over, moving the Quality Shop next door to its current location at 473 Stevens Ave. in the 1970s.

As he waited for pizzas Sunday at the Quality Shop, Carroll Ham said he has been coming to the Deering Center shop for 45 years and knows the store assistants by name. He likes the “congenial” atmosphere and still visits the store even though he has moved to Westbrook. “My kids all came through here” too, Ham said.

Although a change in Maine’s blue laws in the 1980s that allowed supermarkets to open on Sundays drove scores of neighborhood grocery stores out of business, the Quality Shop managed to thrive by offering what customers want in a friendly atmosphere. The store is open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day except Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The neighborhood is also home to a video store, a shoe store, a honey and bee products shop, a tailor shop, two restaurants, two beauty parlors, a Scandinavian goods store and a coffee shop.

“They are doing OK,” Shamos said.

Homemade cream cheese brownies are among the many foods offered at the Quality Shop to appeal to 21st century tastes.

The Quality Shop has evolved to carry items geared to 21st century tastes. Coolers are filled with hand-crafted beers and wines. There are 138 varieties of drinks available, from vitamin water to more traditional sodas. The store’s bakery turns out doughnuts, pastries and plate-sized chocolate chip whoopie pies. A lunch counter sells sandwiches, pizza and souvlaki. The shelves are stocked with a selection of basic convenience items that people may not want to make a trip to the supermarket for: cat food, laundry detergent, baking powder and canned tomato soup.

On Sunday morning, the store was busy with a mix of regulars and other customers.

“I have been coming to this store for 45 years. My kids all came through here,” said Carroll Ham, who moved from the neighborhood to Westbrook a few years ago but still makes the trip to the Quality Shop for sandwiches during the week and the pizza deals offered on Sundays.

Ham likes the “congenial” atmosphere and knows the store assistants by name.

Even the jobs at the Quality Shop are passed down. Seamus Stevens, 28, and his brother, Ryan Stevens, 26, grew up down the street and have worked at the store for the past eight years. Their older siblings worked there before them.

Jake Hulett pays for his purchase Sunday at the Quality Shop in Portland’s Deering Center neighborhood.

“We grew up on the Italians,” Seamus Stevens said of the store’s sandwiches.

Shamos, soon to turn 70, said neither of his sons – one in Southern California and the other a business owner in Standish – wants to run the business.

With the golf course beckoning and visions of himself driving an old convertible while exploring northern Maine, where he has never visited, Shamos decided it was time to let the shop go.

There have been a few nibbles from potential buyers since it was put on the market in September, but no serious contenders, he said. Shamos said he and his partner are not in a hurry to sell and are willing to wait until the right buyer comes along. The store alone is listed at $495,000, and with the building and second-floor apartment included, at $1.12 million.

Beth Quimby can be contacted at 791-6363 or at:

bquimby@pressherald.com

Twitter: QuimbyBeth