Effie Bouikidis is tired: Her Greek BYOB Effie’s is closing after 27 years.

Effie Bouikidis, like many longtime restaurateurs whose BYOBs weathered the pandemic, says she is tired.

She’s tired of rising costs and low margins and — after 27 years of running Effie’s, her Greek restaurant, while raising twin teen daughters — she’s just plain tired.

With a buyer lined up for the building that houses Effie’s, at 1127 Pine St., she is preparing to close. The restaurant’s last night will be Aug. 3, she said.

Effie’s closing will leave the Center City area short of a taverna — a solid Greek BYOB — for a first date or a weeknight drop-in that’s not fancy like Almyra or Estia or exceedingly casual, like Moustaki or Yeeroh. South Street Souvlaki, at 509 South St. since 1977 (but under new owners for several years), remains, as does Zorba, at 2230 Fairmount Ave. in Fairmount.

The closing also will be a major move for Bouikidis, 55, who has been a part of Washington Square West since the early 1980s, when her father, Paul, opened Pine Street Pizza just down the block at 12th and Pine Streets. Pine Street closed in 2015, six years after his death in 2009. (That space is now the bistro Kiddo.)

“I’m sad,” Bouikidis said. “So many memories. So many customers are my friends.” The door has been opening this week with well-wishers offering bottles of wine and flowers.

At Effie’s debut in 1997, Effie Bouikidis ran the front of the house and her mother, Loula, headed the kitchen. When Loula took ill and retired just before the pandemic, the whole business fell on Bouikidis, who lately has added many cooking duties.

The agreement of sale for the building includes the 65-seat restaurant, which has a patio out back alongside the alley. The prospective buyer, whom Bouikidis declined to name, has a whole new concept planned, she said.

As for what’s next for Bouikidis: She is not sure, but she wants to get into interior design.