Euromarket Seized By the State of NY

I love, love, love Euromarket, but bad business practices (especially cheating on your taxes) are no-one’s fault or responsibility but the business owner’s )or accountant, if there was one).

Sorry, I used to work for a tax attorney a million years ago, and I also helped a friend out whose small business was in arrears because of fraud on the part of his accountant (who is now in Club Fed; he was skimming from all of his clients). The upshot is that the City, State,and Feds will ALWAYS offer a reasonable payment plan in the case of back taxes owed for ANY reason usually, unless it’s outright fraud/refusal to pay. My friend’s business had accrued $500K in back taxes over 15 years. At the end of the day, he was able to negotiate it down to remove all interest and penalties, which chopped it to a little under $250K. It took him years but he gradually paid it off, never missing a monthly payment and paying more than he had to on the months that he could. End result=he still has his business and his good name. During my time at the tax attorney we worked out deals for many, many small business owners who either got jammed up on their payroll taxes or other fees and if the business owner truly wanted to come clean there was ALWAYS a payment plan to be worked out. For the State to shut Euromarket down outright shows deeper problems IMHO–either not being able to show a legitimate effort at bookkeeping, or just trying to get out of paying back anything. Accountant error and fraud happens, but you still owe those taxes. Frankly, if you’re screwing your employees, you had BETTER be on the point with your taxes because you’ll be in double trouble if you ever get caught, which is what sounds like is happening here. I would ask the owner to fess up and start making those payments, because once the State/Feds are on to you, any lying is going to make things much much worse. Come clean and take your lumps, or pick up some REALLY thick books to read on your upcoming trip to Club Fed.

I was actually in there tonight shortly after 10 p.m. I have known “Pete,” the owner, for 31 years, since he and his brother opened the now defunct Cyprus Deli. I have lived in Astoria for almost 40% of my nearly 60 years on this earth. I have pictures and videos of my trip there tonight, but do not know how to post them.

I was very happy to see Pete, and he assured me the store will stay open. I go there mainly for his huge imported and craft beer selection, along with fabulous prices on most. As someone who has sort of always regarded Astoria as his “home” neighborhood, it did my heart good to see this place open. It has become a staple store for many in the area, and a lot of people come from out of the area because of the array of fine and unusual products that can be found.

Astoria is very convenient to Manhattan, and when I’m in the city it’s not hard to find an excuse to head across the river to Euromarket for a few beers when I have some free time. I have two good friends in the neighborhood, so I get there fairly often anyway.