Downtown Haverhill Staple Mark’s Deli Changes Hands, to Become Maria’s Diner

(Additional photograph below.)

Mark’s Deli, a destination eatery in downtown Haverhill for more than three generations, will become Maria’s Diner as it goes under new ownership.

Maria Emond, who has managed the nearby McDonald’s in Bradford for 16 years, purchased Mark’s Deli from Stavros Dimakis. Dimakis inherited the deli from his father, Antonios K. Dimakis, who bought the deli five years after emigrating from Greece in 1970.

“Mark’s has always been a family restaurant where people come to see their friends,” Emond told WHAV, noting she plans on retaining the present staff. “I want to keep that up and make it even better.”

Emond, who lives in Haverhill, said owning her own restaurant is a dream come true. She said she got to know the younger Dimakis when she worked for him as a dishwasher for several months four years ago when she was saving up for a family trip.

Dimakis said it took him a full year to make the decision to sell after Emond broached the idea.

“Mark’s has been a family business for so long it was not easy to give it up but COVID was hard on me and I finally decided that maybe I didn’t want to work six days a week forever and maybe I did want to try something else,” Dimakis told WHAV.

That “something else” is working for a security company.

“I now have days off, vacations and benefits, a new concept for me,” he said.

Dimakis recalled that when his father arrived in Haverhill, sponsored by an uncle, the bus from Boston dropped him off opposite Mark’s Deli.

“He made his first phone call in America from inside the deli to tell his uncle to come get him,” the younger Dimakis said.

The senior Dimakis’ first job in Haverhill was at the old Apollo Diner. In 1975, he bought Mark’s. He brought his wife and young sons to the United States that same year. The younger Dimakis said he doesn’t know exactly how Mark’s got its name, but assumes it was named by an owner well before his father. The original deed shows the building, next to the railroad overpass, was first owned by the Boston and Maine Railroad. Antonios Dimakis operated it with help from his family until he died in 2024.

Emond said the diner will be a family affair for her as well as her two daughters, Marlene and Katy, who plan to work with her on Saturdays.

Favorite items will remain on the menu, but Emond plans to add new dishes, many with a Spanish flair such as carne asada, churrasco and bistec. She also plans to open for longer hours, 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. For now, she will close on Sundays. She also plans to accept credit and debit cards.