Long before 7 Seas Fish Market opened in Vancouver, the Heras family’s livelihood was shaped by the sea. In the late 1800s, the family were coastal merchants and boat owners in Greece, trading food and essential goods between island ports. Known locally as karavokyrides—“gentleman boat merchants”—they relied on seamanship, trust, and reputation to move goods safely across long coastal routes.

That maritime tradition carried forward through generations. John Heras’ father, George, was a fisherman by trade, shaped by hardship, war, and displacement. After World War II, George fled Greece and eventually made his way to Canada, rebuilding his life through fishing, manual labour, and perseverance. The sea was not just a profession—it was survival, then opportunity.

John grew up inside that reality. From an early age, he worked to support his family, learning fishing, trade, and hard labour long before business ownership was ever discussed.

By his late teens, John was working on fishing boats and in seafood processing, gaining firsthand experience in buying, handling, and evaluating fish quality. While working in Vancouver, he noticed a clear gap in the market: customers valued fresh, well-handled seafood and honest advice.

In 1966, with personal savings, grit, and a small bank loan, John opened 7 Seas Fish Market on West 4th Avenue in Kitsilano. The mission was simple—sell seafood he was proud of, treat customers fairly, and do things properly.

The market quickly became a trusted destination for home cooks and restaurants alike. Demand soon extended beyond the retail counter, laying the foundation for wholesale and distribution—while the flagship shop remains, to this day, in the same location where it all began.

Soon settling in the fishing village of Ladner, known then for fishing and duck hunting. John opened up the Ladner facility on Chisholm Street in ye olde Ladner village in 1974. This facility was approximately 8000 square feet. It included a boat offload facility, a caviar production room, a massive fish cleaning production line with 30+ people working at any given time (also known affectionately as the blood line, just like the inside gut cavity of a sockeye salmon). There was also a smoke house facility where John's Royal Crown Brand smoked sockeye salmon was a popular choice amongst Canadian smoked salmon connoisseurs.

7 Seas also became a global exporter of seafood in the 70's and 80's. Selling 40” container loads. 44,500 lbs (20,185kg) was typical. This included selling full containers of salmon to Greece, all sorts of seafood to the USA, loads of sockeye salmon and chum salmon ikura to the Japanese market in Hokkaido. And much, much more!

7 Seas supplied most of the restaurants in Vancouver, since there were hardly any other seafood distributors at the time, and a lot of the restaurants were owned by the Greek community (Big John's heritage). Lobster tails and steak dinners were a hit in the Greek restaurants (along with deep dish pizza). John began importing warm water lobster tails and sending them across Canada.

7 Seas also became a global exporter of seafood in the 70's and 80's. Selling 40” container loads. 44,500 lbs (20,185kg) was typical. This included selling full containers of salmon to Greece, all sorts of seafood to the USA, and many full container loads of sockeye salmon and chum salmon ikura to the Japanese in Hokkaido. And much, much more!

John's eldest son, George, started working in the family business distributing seafood out of the back of the retail shop and saw opportunity with sushi restaurants and fine dining 'white tablecloth'. Foodie-ism wasn't as big as it is now, and cooking TV shows didn't exist yet. In 1995, the sockeye salmon fishery in the Fraser River collapsed due to a multitude of factors, including mismanagement of the fishery by Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO). Luckily for 7 Seas, we had opportunities to sell farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), from the west coast fish farms that had installed from northern European Multi-National Corporations (MNC) investments.

The late 90's saw an adaption of food and multicultural cuisine start in Vancouver with the advent of sushi restaurants in about 1998. Can you believe there were only but a couple sushi restaurants in Vancouver prior to that!? (Seems like there's two on just about every block nowadays!) 7 Seas saw a great opportunity to supply many of the high quality sushi restaurants and white tablecloth institutions in Vancouver.

George was joined by his brother Mike who worked closely with John to learn the inner workings of the production facility and the business. John actually started taking summers off in 2000 and heading to Greece to tend his tomato plants. George and Mike's younger brother Jamie also started working in the business to help run the local seafood distribution operation. Having his brothers help out in the business allowed George to explore different avenues of supply chain after 2004, securing seafood imports from at least a dozen different countries, including China, Japan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Mexico, Argentina, Greece, and of course the USA.

Also in 2008, 7 Seas bought Fjord, a local salmon smoke house. This complemented 7 Seas' current smoking program. The family had sold the Ladner facility and purchased the Richmond plant (from 8000 to 30,000 square feet). November 2009 was 3 weeks of pure haywire during the move. The family started to fill their boots with bringing this 1970's retrofit to capacity.

The Olympics certainly brought life to Vancouver and Whistler. Besides that, the Heras' purchased a company called Pasco Seafoods in 2013. This was a major expansion opportunity and 7 Seas nearly doubled in total revenue.

We embarked on introducing a new ERP system in 2011 to help with further growth. ERPs are no joke (if you know, then you know!), but it has been well worth the investment.

This decade is characterized by figuring out what we do, and doing it best. We are local purveyors of fine fresh and frozen seafood. We are importers. We are knowledgeable about how to buy, hold, maintain, and sell seafood. We take care of our inventory through the best methods available. We care for our clients who trust us to deliver and come back time and time again.

We have waxed and waned with the market and the industry. Through the cycles of the sockeye salmon 4-year cycle. The good years, the bad years, and everything in-between. We have grown, changed and prospered. But we remain a family-owned and operated Canadian business committed to providing great, sustainable seafood to each and every customer. In fact, John and his sons still run the business to this very day with the same level of passion with which it was started.

“This isn’t just a business. It’s our family story. And we’re honoured to share it with you.” – The Heras Family