The shop frontage at the Crithary Building, Warialda.

MARY CONOMOS
on 21.10.2007

In accord with my recollections and the actual contract of sale in my posssesion (includes a schedule of goods chattels and effects) from Peter Crithary to Jim and Harry Zantis 1931 I submit the following details: Peter Crithary owned the cafe in Hope Street which he rebuilt, after it burnt down. The shop reopened in 1928. The Cafe was called 'Crithary's Tea Rooms.' When Harry and Jim purchased the business in 1931 they renamed it Zantis Bros' Tea Rooms. I cannot speak for the other shops which formed the complex called Crithary's building, but in the case of the Tea Rooms there is little at present which bears resemblance to the original cafe be it size or the fixtures and fittings. e.g. there were twenty marble topped maple tables and eighty maple chairs set well back from the soda fountain and fixtures and fittings located at the front. There were 13 wall mirrors. Chronology from 1934: Jack Zantis joined Harry and Jim in 1934. The brothers opened a second shop in Stephen Street called the Civic Cafe. (1935) Sid joined Jim, Jack and Harry in 1935. Harry and Sid moved to Inverell in 1941. Jim and Jack retained both shops and remained in Warialda until 1947. Any change in name from Zantis Bros' Tea Rooms occured some time after that. Mary Conomos (daughter of Jim Zantis.)