George, Harry and John Siourounis are brothers and have been in business for over 40 years as co-owners of the Weyburn Travelodge.
Before they made Weyburn their home, they came from a small town in eastern Saskatchewan, and before that, they came straight from Greece.
"And then when we came to Canada, not one of us could speak English. We still cannot speak very good English, but we get by," George chuckled.
"We came to Weyburn to start our own business, and the first year we were here in Weyburn, we did not come to the Travelodge, we came to the El Rancho, to be correct. Then El Rancho came up for sale and we decided to take the big jump; but we were young and sometimes I like to say, young and foolish with big dreams."
George Siourounis explained that, "We stuck here for 40 years because for some reason Weyburn, it's built into ourselves and it's there to stay here for a couple of years, three years, and we have a chance in the beginning, to sell the place and then move to a different place. We stick to this place, to this town, Weyburn was really good to us."
He shared, "The people of Weyburn are amazing people and we made a lot of friends. The surrounding area, the farmers, people from the small towns, we have a lot of good customers and friends from the surrounding areas."
George said they started their families and raised their kids here in Weyburn. "Most of them have moved away, but we still have a few kids in Weyburn and they keep coming back."
George explained that they like to give back to the community. "We got involved with the community, we got involved with different clubs, our biggest dream right now in Weyburn is to have a new hospital. We really got heavily involved with raising funds, and myself, I was one of the original five on the hospital committee."
Harry said the key to their success is hard work and "to be honest with your customers and to be honest with yourself."
"Yeah, this type of business is very tough," Harry added.
They wanted to give a big, big thanks to the Weyburn community, as Harry said they recognized they aren't here for a day or two, and they have supported them all these years. "All these families always gave us respect, and our kids always want to come back."
George continued, "We have lots of good customers from day one. When we moved to Weyburn, there were customers with us and they're still the same ones, the same families, you know, for 40 years."