Kopeski reflects on decades as Glocester’s grocer at Dino’s

GLOCESTER – It has been a long journey for Steve Kopeski, owner of Dino’s, who is handing the keys to the store off to new owners, the Patel brothers, after over 43 years in the business.

“I loved working with food,” said Kopeski, a 1972 Burrillville High School grad.

That began with a job at the supermarket at age 16.

“I was always working at Dino’s,” recalled Kopeski.

Kopeski took a brief break in 1977 when new owners took over, and things changed at the store. The original store was located at the intersection of Douglas Hook Road and Putnam Pike in Chepachet, where the current Family Dollar Store is now. He decided to look elsewhere and accepted a position at Roger Williams Foods. There he met the late George Brigido, former owner of IGAs in Scituate, Pascoag and North Smithfield.

“They were great people,” said Kopeski. “He was always one of my best friends, even though he was my boss.”

In 1981, Dino’s, which was owned by Roger Lapierre at the time, declared bankruptcy. Kopeski bought it, and restarted the business. It has been Dino’s ever since, named after Dino Paolini, Kopeski’s father-in-law. The store grew and under the watchful eye of Kopeski began to flourish as times and populations changed.

“When I first came to town, all of our business was done in the summer,” he explained. “The lakes hadn’t grown into year round homes yet.”

When that began to happen more and more, business grew with it, so much so that in 1993 the decision was made to relocate to Dino’s present location at 1020 Putnam Pike in Chepachet.

“That original store was too small and too dirty,” Kopeski said. “It was 18 years old. The parking lot was not big enough. I decided that if I wanted to stay in business, I had to do something.”

Land was purchased, plans were drawn up and Kopeski was ready to launch a new, modern facility. Doing so, however, presented the biggest challenge he has had to face over the years.

“The town wasn’t ready to grow,” he recalled.

The land was cleared, and things were ready to go, but a huge pile of loam, which was part of the clearing process, remained. Part of the purchase agreement included the former owner maintaining ownership of the loam and using it for other projects. According to town ordinances at the time, however, loam could not be removed from property in the town.

“I was tied up in court for three years over that stupid pile of loam,” Kopeski said.

In the end the town won, and Kopeski wound up purchasing the loam, and it remained on site.

That wasn’t the only obstacle. Among other issues, five wells were drilled on the site before one with sufficient water supply was found, and there was plenty of ledge to deal with. Seven months later, however, Dino’s officially opened.

While many smaller grocery stores have been bought up by chains or simply gone out of business, Dino’s has not only hung in there, but has flourished. That was especially true when the pandemic hit. More and more people started coming through the doors, including more residents than ever before.

“I couldn’t believe the amount of people who lived in town who had never stepped foot inside the store,” Kopeski recalled. “They just didn’t think we were going to be some place they wanted to shop.”

New customers came from everywhere, including nearby Massachusetts and Connecticut. Part of the reason was because while chain stores, who have contracts for specific items, were unable to get enough products, Dino’s shelves were consistently filled on a regular basis.

“We were able to source things that the big guys couldn’t source because they were too big,” Kopeski explained. “They only bought from certain people, where I had the ability to buy from whoever I wanted to. I just called somebody up and asked if they could make a delivery.”

Helping him do that was his son Doug, who will remain working under the new owners as manager. The two spent hours on phones finding products customers needed and getting them to the store.

“I would call up anybody and say, ‘what have you got for bath tissue?'” Kopeski recalled. “They might say, ‘All we got is single rolls.’ Give me 40 cases. I don’t care. Give me something. Can you make a delivery? Give me this. Give me that. Doug was doing the same thing. We stayed in business, and that, I think, is what catapulted us into the big time.”

Regardless, Dino’s still maintains a hometown “mom and pop” kind of atmosphere, hiring many locals to work there, including school students. There are no self checkouts. Additionally, Dino’s has been praised by town council members over the years for their contributions to local organizations, food banks, Little League, car washes for local teams and charity work as well. That includes a used book section in front of the store from time to time. People drop off books, the store sells them for two dollars apiece and the proceeds go to the local food bank. Over the last few years, that has raised more than $6,000, said Kopeski.

One of the favorite offerings is “Senior Tuesday,” during which seniors get a 10 percent discount on their groceries. On any given Tuesday, the store is filled with the older generation filling shopping carts.

“That was very big,” said Kopeski. “Bigger than I ever thought it would be.”

The best part, however, he says has simply been the customers. Kopeski, who is a fixture in the store seven days a week, can often be seen chatting with customers, many of whom have known him for years. That, he said, is one of the things he will miss the most, along with employees who have been there, it seems, forever. That includes working with his son, Doug. Kopeski and his wife Paula also have a daughter Stephanie. Doug was 10 when the new store opened, and almost immediately started helping out, begging to accompany his dad to work, when he could.

“I would come in after closing, after supper, and he would tag along,” Kopeski recalled. “We’re tagging out dog food. Just him and I. I said, ‘Come on, let’s take a break,’ and he comes and sits as close to me as he can. We have the whole store, but that’s where he wants to sit.”

That was more than 30 years ago. Doug Kopeski went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from the University of Rhode Island in business, particularly, supply chain management information systems, and took over management of the meat department.

Over the years, the two have shared other experiences as well. Whenever hurricanes, snowstorms or power outages take place, the two could be found inside the store, day and night, until it is over, safeguarding the business and its products. Winter storms can be the worse, recalled Doug. With winter power outages, doors are opened to allow cold air in to help preserve foods, but without any heat, the two have to take turns sitting in a car to keep warm.

“Power outages are the worse thing,” said Steve.

How does Doug feel about his father retiring?

“I have mixed feelings,” he said. “I’m happy for him, but I’m going to miss what we have together every day. We were a good team. It’s been a good run, but my run’s not done.”

Kopeski plans on doing some traveling and taking it easy, as he begins a new journey into retirement…