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BELLINGHAM, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – Mo Tsimouris is part of a Bellingham restaurant legacy, carrying that torch in business ventures for nearly 16 years. The lifelong Whatcom County resident has watched the county change in the last few decades and has participated in the culture downtown Bellingham cultivates.
In 1978, the Tsimouris family opened their first restaurant when Tsimouris’s father with his brother opened the upscale, English-style establishment called Lord Cornwall Restaurant. Lord Cornwall expanded into the next-door space which became a bar according to Tsimouris. Lord Cornwall transitioned into a live music venue throughout the 1980s and 90s before rebranding into Lime Ricky’s as DJs and nightclub culture gained prominence.
“I was exposed to the business from some of my earliest memories, so I remember always being around it, not at night, but during the daytime,” Tsimouris said.
By the mid-90s, Tsimouris’s relatives sold the space to Mount Baker Brewing Company. The local brewery didn’t last, however, and folded after less than a year according to Tsimouris. His father reacquired the space following that and opened a nightclub/restaurant combination called Downtown Johnny’s.
That same space on Cornwall Avenue became Bellingham Bar & Grill when Tsimouris joined the family business in early 2009. Colloquially called by its acronym BBG’s, the venture is a co-ownership between Tsimouris and his father, who is currently semi-retired from the business.
Tsimouris is a first-generation immigrant, his family hailing from Greece.
“It’s every immigrant’s dream to have their children graduate from college, and, you know, be a professional. And my entire family fought me on getting into the business. I was just hooked immediately, like I always knew that I wanted to be in it, but I was really pressured to not be in it and to go a different route.” – Mo Tsimouris
He grew up in Bellingham and graduated from Sehome High School in 2006, going on to attend Whatcom Community College and start a stint at Western Washington University. Tsimouris planned to pursue finance, or something related at WWU before the economy took a turn in 2008, now referred to as the start of the Great Recession.
“I wasn’t a bad student, but I wasn’t the best student, and I just didn’t really care. I knew what I wanted to do. And finally, after all the arguments and all the debates, [my family] capitulated, and I was able to get in it, but it was not without a fight, for sure,” he said.
Tsimouris’s interests in finance translate to some investments in the stock market, and his ongoing work as a small business owner. He took over Bellingham Axe in 2023 after the previous owner started the axe-throwing drinking establishment shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic.
When Tsimouris joined the family business, he started work at BBG’s as a bartender in addition to his work as part-owner. Tsimouris still tends bar three days a week and said he enjoys the time interacting with people.
“I love it. [I] have some regulars that have been with me since day one. I’ve got one family that comes in every Wednesday same time [and] they’ve been coming in since 2009, and it is incredible to see,” he said. “I mean, we’re talking three generations with their friends too, and I won’t let anyone else take them. It’s always me.”
Tsimouris and his staff at BBG’s have watched many people meet future spouses and they participate in surprise birthday parties for regulars of the establishment. As a place geared towards college kids, the troubles of keeping prices down while honoring their employees has not been lost on Tsimouris.
“It will always be the biggest challenge of owning a business, because you know that the unfortunate reality is you can’t raise prices always to mitigate your rising costs,” he said. “With minimum wage, for example, a lot of people just say, ‘Oh, businesses will just raise their prices.’ Well, you really can’t. I mean, [you] can raise them a little bit, but if you raise them too much, or where they need to be, people will just go out less. Or when they do go out, they’ll drink less, they’ll have less, or they’ll order an appetizer instead of a dinner. So, for us, my strategy has always been, we will raise prices slightly, but you’ll never notice it, because it’s so slight.”
Tsimouris said that his time working in Bellingham as a bar owner has been a demonstration in treating others with respect.
“I was really treated really poorly when I would go out [as a 21-year-old]. A lot of bartenders would be condescending and just not give me any respect when I would give them respect. And I decided [in] that moment, that I was going to do it differently,” he said. “And that’s what we’ve done, and that’s what we continue to do, and that’s what I preach to my staff, is that we are going to be different.”
We are Whatcom is a weekly column featuring Whatcom County residents making a positive impact on the community. To submit a Whatcom County resident to be featured, click here.