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Worcester Telegram , MA
May 27 2012
Despite shooting, taxes, business owner stays, for now
by Aaron Nicodemus ON BUSINESS
Robert `Big Bob' Varderesian has moved on.
He said he rarely thinks about the 2008 shooting inside his business,
Big Bob's Liquor Store on Richmond Street.
At around 10 p.m. on Dec. 10, 2008, Evan Louis Rivera, 40, and another
man burst into the small package store. Mr. Rivera allegedly held a
gun and pointed it at the stomach of Mr. Varderesian's brother, Kevin,
who also works in the family business.
Mr. Varderesian pulled a semi-automatic handgun and shot Mr. Rivera
several times, killing him. Mr. Rivera's accomplice, who fled the
store, has never been found. Over in a flash, the shooting was
captured on the store's video camera.
`Life is never the same, because you have to watch out,' Mr.
Varderesian said. `But I'm over it. It's behind me. I don't look back
on it. I don't worry about it. I'd do it again, if I had to.'
Mr. Varderesian, now 36, is a licensed gun owner who lives in
Worcester. He was never charged in the shooting, which the district
attorney's office ruled was in self-defense. Mr. Rivera had a long
criminal history, having spent 13 years in a Florida prison on a pair
of armed robbery charges. Police in Auburn and Fitchburg considered
him a suspect in several armed robberies of liquor stores in their
communities.
In the aftermath, people in the city hailed Mr. Varderesian as a hero.
He shrugs about that now, saying what he did was a split-second
decision, made to protect his brother and himself from harm.
Since the shooting, Mr. Varderesian has opened a second store, Big
Bob's Wine and Spirits on Southbridge Street.
He purchased the liquor license in 2007, before the shooting, but it
took him three years to renovate the building and get his business up
and running.
The Southbridge Street store has been open since September 2010. He
recently purchased the building, at 501 Southbridge St., for $425,000.
`I had always planned to open another store,' he said, asking,
rhetorically, `Why shouldn't I?'
But if an observer would guess that starting a new business and then
buying the building signifies Mr. Varderesian has recommitted to
Worcester, think again.
Like many business owners in the city, he was recently notified that
taxes on the property he just purchased will likely be going up. The
assessed value of the property will increase by $44,100, from $251,500
in 2011 to $295,600 in 2012.
`The city hasn't done anything for us, except raising our taxes and
giving us headaches,' he said. `It doesn't seem like they are very
business friendly.'
The assessments of some businesses climbed even higher, doubling and
more in some cases, to values that are far above what those properties
could have fetched on the open market. But seeing as Mr. Varderesian's
property recently sold at $425,000, it appears the valuation is
probably moving closer to the market price.
The tax bill, though, has forced him to consider selling both his
liquor stores and leaving the state. He has been weighing the pros and
cons of living and working in the city.`I've been thinking a lot
lately of doing it somewhere else,' he said. `I'm thinking about it
more and more often.'
He came to this country as a teenager from Armenia. He settled in
Worcester and nine years ago opened the liquor store on Richmond
Street. He attended high school in Worcester, but never graduated.
`Look, I'm good at what I do, but I'm not book-smart,' he said.
He said he and his two brothers, Kevin and Vinnie, work 14- to 15-hour
days, seven days a week. Between the two stores, there are three other
employees.
`I work hard for what I've got; we all have,' he said.
While I interviewed him this week, a monitor behind the counter lit
up. It was his fiancée from Armenia, calling him on Skype. He
conducted the rest of the interview half in English, half in Armenian,
as he talked to me and talked to her.
`When I can get her over here, that's probably when things will
change,' he said. `Hopefully, she'll be here soon, we're just doing
the paperwork.'
As he speaks to me and his fiancée, some Holy Cross baseball players
come to the counter, and Mr. Varderesian engages them in easy banter,
wishing them luck in their next game. Another customer comes in for a
$2 bottle of liquor, saying as he lays down his dollar and four
quarters, `I don't buy anywhere else.'
Mr. Varderesian has a smile for people as they buy scratch tickets or
a bottle of wine.
I ask him if this country has provided him with better opportunities
than he would have found in his native country.
`Take a look at me, dude,' he says, sitting back in his chair. `I am
tired all the time. I have made my own opportunities. I work seven
days a week, 15 hours a day, for this opportunity. Nobody hands me
nothing.'
http://www.telegram.com/article/20120527/COLUMN73/105279965/1002/BUSINESS
May 27 2012
Despite shooting, taxes, business owner stays, for now
by Aaron Nicodemus ON BUSINESS
Robert `Big Bob' Varderesian has moved on.
He said he rarely thinks about the 2008 shooting inside his business,
Big Bob's Liquor Store on Richmond Street.
At around 10 p.m. on Dec. 10, 2008, Evan Louis Rivera, 40, and another
man burst into the small package store. Mr. Rivera allegedly held a
gun and pointed it at the stomach of Mr. Varderesian's brother, Kevin,
who also works in the family business.
Mr. Varderesian pulled a semi-automatic handgun and shot Mr. Rivera
several times, killing him. Mr. Rivera's accomplice, who fled the
store, has never been found. Over in a flash, the shooting was
captured on the store's video camera.
`Life is never the same, because you have to watch out,' Mr.
Varderesian said. `But I'm over it. It's behind me. I don't look back
on it. I don't worry about it. I'd do it again, if I had to.'
Mr. Varderesian, now 36, is a licensed gun owner who lives in
Worcester. He was never charged in the shooting, which the district
attorney's office ruled was in self-defense. Mr. Rivera had a long
criminal history, having spent 13 years in a Florida prison on a pair
of armed robbery charges. Police in Auburn and Fitchburg considered
him a suspect in several armed robberies of liquor stores in their
communities.
In the aftermath, people in the city hailed Mr. Varderesian as a hero.
He shrugs about that now, saying what he did was a split-second
decision, made to protect his brother and himself from harm.
Since the shooting, Mr. Varderesian has opened a second store, Big
Bob's Wine and Spirits on Southbridge Street.
He purchased the liquor license in 2007, before the shooting, but it
took him three years to renovate the building and get his business up
and running.
The Southbridge Street store has been open since September 2010. He
recently purchased the building, at 501 Southbridge St., for $425,000.
`I had always planned to open another store,' he said, asking,
rhetorically, `Why shouldn't I?'
But if an observer would guess that starting a new business and then
buying the building signifies Mr. Varderesian has recommitted to
Worcester, think again.
Like many business owners in the city, he was recently notified that
taxes on the property he just purchased will likely be going up. The
assessed value of the property will increase by $44,100, from $251,500
in 2011 to $295,600 in 2012.
`The city hasn't done anything for us, except raising our taxes and
giving us headaches,' he said. `It doesn't seem like they are very
business friendly.'
The assessments of some businesses climbed even higher, doubling and
more in some cases, to values that are far above what those properties
could have fetched on the open market. But seeing as Mr. Varderesian's
property recently sold at $425,000, it appears the valuation is
probably moving closer to the market price.
The tax bill, though, has forced him to consider selling both his
liquor stores and leaving the state. He has been weighing the pros and
cons of living and working in the city.`I've been thinking a lot
lately of doing it somewhere else,' he said. `I'm thinking about it
more and more often.'
He came to this country as a teenager from Armenia. He settled in
Worcester and nine years ago opened the liquor store on Richmond
Street. He attended high school in Worcester, but never graduated.
`Look, I'm good at what I do, but I'm not book-smart,' he said.
He said he and his two brothers, Kevin and Vinnie, work 14- to 15-hour
days, seven days a week. Between the two stores, there are three other
employees.
`I work hard for what I've got; we all have,' he said.
While I interviewed him this week, a monitor behind the counter lit
up. It was his fiancée from Armenia, calling him on Skype. He
conducted the rest of the interview half in English, half in Armenian,
as he talked to me and talked to her.
`When I can get her over here, that's probably when things will
change,' he said. `Hopefully, she'll be here soon, we're just doing
the paperwork.'
As he speaks to me and his fiancée, some Holy Cross baseball players
come to the counter, and Mr. Varderesian engages them in easy banter,
wishing them luck in their next game. Another customer comes in for a
$2 bottle of liquor, saying as he lays down his dollar and four
quarters, `I don't buy anywhere else.'
Mr. Varderesian has a smile for people as they buy scratch tickets or
a bottle of wine.
I ask him if this country has provided him with better opportunities
than he would have found in his native country.
`Take a look at me, dude,' he says, sitting back in his chair. `I am
tired all the time. I have made my own opportunities. I work seven
days a week, 15 hours a day, for this opportunity. Nobody hands me
nothing.'
http://www.telegram.com/article/20120527/COLUMN73/105279965/1002/BUSINESS