Billionaire entrepreneur John Catsimatidis Sr. is sharing stories and revealing how his instincts and common sense propelled him to massive business success. Catsimatidis owns a chain of New York supermarkets, hosts a radio talk show, and is also a real estate developer. His company is currently developing 400 Central in St. Petersburg–anticipated to be the tallest condominium tower on the Gulf Coast.
On June 3, he will host a book signing event at the St. Petersburg Museum of History for his autobiography How Far Do You Want to Go?: Lessons from a Common-Sense Billionaire, a detailed account of Catsimatidis’ incredible life story.
First-gen passion
Catsimatidis was born on the small Greek island of Nisyros and immigrated to the United States with his family when he was an infant. Raised in Harlem, he went to school by day and worked in a small grocery store by night to help pay for college tuition.
While studying electrical engineering in college, as his parents wanted him to do, he was only eight credits shy of his college degree. But he saw starting electrical engineers earning about $130 per week. Meanwhile, he was already making $1,000 a week in partnership with his uncle, buying and building grocery stores. So, he left school and stood up to his parents. Knowing that if he failed, he’d never hear the end of it.
However, failure was not in the cards for Catsimatidis. By his 25th birthday, he was already a success, with 10 Red Apple Supermarkets along Broadway Avenue on Manhattan’s Upper Westside.
Today, that grocery business has grown to become the Red Apple Group, a conglomerate with more than 10,000 employees and interests in energy, real estate, aviation, baseball, entertainment and media, including the iconic radio station WABC, where John hosts leading figures in government, politics, business, and economics.
How to succeed in business
A born businessman, Catsimatidis knows the importance of business basics, such as marketing: “…The store needed marketing,” he wrote of the grocery operation, “which is just another word for communicating with the public. We had to tell the people what we were selling and why it was good. Obvious, right? We also had to communicate with the employees if we wanted them to be on the same page as we were. If we did both those things, I knew the store would be a success.”
“The American dream doesn’t come with an instruction manual—or even a sign to let you know when you’ve arrived at the finish line,” Catsimatidis said. “I wrote How Far Do You Want to Go? to help others with an entrepreneurial spirit achieve success.”
Building a future in Florida
Red Apple Real Estate (RARE) is the real-estate arm of Catsimatidis’ Red Apple companies. RARE develops and manages mixed-use properties that feature luxury living options with convenient, neighborhood retail elements. And now one of these properties is coming to St. Petersburg.
The Residences at 400 Central luxury condominium tower is now under construction in downtown St. Petersburg and is attracting brisk sales from buyers across the country. Those sales include an expansive, 4,237 square-foot penthouse that recently sold for $5.23 million. When complete, the 46-story building will become the tallest residential tower on the west coast of Florida and include 301 luxury condominium homes, plus ground-floor retail and restaurants, as well as Class A office space.
Catsimatidis will host a book signing event at the Residences at 400 Central sales gallery in downtown St. Petersburg in the near future.
Book signing event
Prior to the 6 p.m. book signing event, Catsimatidis will be meeting separately with students from the University of South Florida’s Kate Tiedemann School of Business and Finance and with aspiring and minority entrepreneurs within the St. Petersburg community.
The St. Petersburg Museum of History is located at 335 2nd Avenue NE, St. Petersburg, Fla. 33701.
How Far Do You Want to Go?: Lessons from a Common-Sense Billionaire is available on Amazon, the 77 WABC Store and anywhere else quality books are sold.
