Foundation of the company in Thessaloniki
In 1931, Athanasios Hatzopoulos, one of seven children of refugees from Eastern Thrace, decides to leave the management of the family bakery to his older brothers and starts his own business in downtown Thessaloniki.
Right above the port of Thessaloniki, the so-called Commerce Square, was the city’s open-air market, a veritable melting pot of multiple cultures and a colourful hub of commercial activity. In Commerce Square swarms of street vendors congregated to showcase their work and sell their wares, whilst miscellaneous entrepreneurs, artisans and tradespeople had their workshops, completing the rich tapestry of the area. Athanasios’ business idea germinated there, when he started observing a small business of four people making hand-made paper bags from scrap paper and flour paste; he was intrigued and inspired.
Athanasios already had deep knowledge of flour and its secrets; he only had to learn about paper and its various qualities. Without hesitation he found a vacant shop in the area and started devising his own bag construction. He wouldn’t use old, dirty papers from magazines and newspapers. His paper bags would be of high quality, made of clean, pure paper bought from a local mill. That was the innovation that made him stand out immediately and succeed in the packaging business, laying the ground for A. HATZOPOULOS S.A. to evolve over the decades into the industrial enterprise that it is today.