Tobacco House 1941

When Nikos Agathos and his father opened their tobacco shop in 1941, Greece was on the cusp of becoming the world’s second-largest tobacco exporter after the United States. Their storefront on Nikiforou Theotoki street became one of the island’s oldest surviving tobacconists, weathering occupation, economic shifts, and the eventual decline of an industry that once defined Greek commerce. Today, the shop’s hand-painted signs stand as a landmark in UNESCO-protected Corfu Old Town, a living relic of the era when tobacco was king.