Sunbird Shopping Center Mourns Co-Owner’s Passing

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As the devastating 2007 flood pummeled the community and buried their store in several feet of mud, Sunbird Shopping Center co-owners Ron Sturza and Ghassan “Gus” Salloum were holed up in their top-story offices. Stocked with food and water, and having sent their employees home, the duo — coworkers since the 1970s — stayed there for three days, questioning how they would move forward. 

Sitting in those same offices one recent afternoon, Sturza remembered one especially emotional moment. They were both crying. Salloum turned to him and asked how they would take care of their employees. 

“I remember looking into his eyes and saying, ‘you know, we’re going to make this work. We have to do that,’” he said. 

Sturza says his relationship with Salloum was akin to a marriage — filled with ups and downs and characterized by unwavering honesty. Recovery wouldn’t have been possible, he said, if they didn’t have each other to lean on for all those years.

Sunbird is now mourning the loss of Salloum, who passed away last Saturday, Feb. 6, at the age of 75. Despite his declining health, he was working at the store just 24 hours prior to his death. 

Sturza had several conversations with Salloum in the past six months in which he questioned if his business partner should be working so much. But Salloum lived life how he wanted to. 

“His words to me were this: ‘Ron, just let me come to work. Bear with me,’” Sturza said. “And I said, ‘you got it.’ That’s his passion.”

That passion, says manager Jared Hedgers, trickled down to employees as well. He remembers being a kid and watching his mom work under Salloum’s management at Yard Birds decades ago.

“He’s just one of those people that really cares about his employees and gets involved with their families. That’s just who he is, who he’s been,” Hedgers said. “He was really a mentor to me.”

Hedgers said that admiration is reflected throughout the store. 

“Everyone had so much respect for the man, personally and professionally,” he said. 



After emigrating from Syria, Salloum quickly learned English and got a gig washing dishes, according to Sturza. Then, working at Yard Birds, management soon realized he was a “very sharp man.”

“He was young, but they knew he had some talent with him. So they brought him up pretty quickly,” Sturza recalled. 

In 1978, when Salloum was hired at Sunbird, Sturza — then an employee — knew they would remain close. With his energy, Sturza said they just clicked. And by 1996, when Sunbird’s previous owners departed, the pair decided to step in. Through the decades, the store has been a centerpiece in the community, known for its old-school customer service and its support of local food banks. 

As Sturza and Salloum transitioned from workers to owners, what some described as Salloum’s “fierce honesty” skyrocketed him into a position of respect within the clothing and shoes retail industry. So much so, Sturza says, that it was widely known that “there was a distributor price, and then there was a ‘Gus price.’”

With news of his passing, Sunbird is getting flooded with calls, many from salesmen who worked with Salloum or met him at tradeshows. 

“He’s going to be sorely missed out there,” Sturza said. “He’s kind of one of those foundational, rock-type people.”

While the pandemic has shown itself to be a major hurdle for businesses and individuals, Sturza says Salloum led the store through much worse — floods, volcanoes and earthquakes, for example. 

“You’ve got to realize … this company’s been through more challenges than most companies will go through in five lifetimes,” Sturza said. 

Now, despite workers mourning Salloum’s passing, the store will continue on. 

“We have to step up and look these guys in the eye and say, ‘you know what, we’ve still got a business to run,” Hedgers said. “And what would we be doing to Gus’ legacy and Gus’ memory if we don’t do what we need to do for the employees, for the community, for all of it.”