South Australian juice producer Poly’s Fruit Juice is closing up after 31 years, with owner George Polymiadis deciding it’s time to retire.
According to the ABC, the Greek Australian has been flat out fielding phone calls and supervising trucks to fill final orders, with residents in his community buying up bottles.
Their most popular juice, Orchard Crush, has developed a cult following, so much so that people had to make sure to buy more before it’s gone forever.
“It’s been very busy,” Polymiadis said.
“Everyone is in a little bit of a shock, and they want to stock up, which is obviously nice for us.”
The former microbiologist worked at other juice production facilities in the region but decided to take his families grown fruit of oranges, apples and grapes, and start his own business.
He said the difficult decision to close down was driven by the loss of fruit supplied by his brother and a desire to focus his time elsewhere after his wife fell ill last year.
His sons were also not interested in taking over, and while he is open to sell, he doesn’t want to wait.
“My boys were not interested, as they’ve got good jobs and they can see how hard I have worked over the years and don’t want to do that, which is fair enough,” he said.
“This was my dream, and I don’t want to impose that because if you’re not happy doing it, you won’t do it for very long.”
Polymiadis added that the best part of his venture was producing a product beloved by the community.
