Record number of store closures in downtown Athens

Sixty-five thousand commercial stores have closed down and 100,000 jobs have been lost all over Greece in the past 13 months. Of these, 25 percent have closed in the wider region of downtown Athens according to the latest data by the Athens Trade Society. The main reason is the inability of owners to pay their rents that constitute the biggest burden on the stores’ operational cost.

Over the last three months a downward trend is being observed in the rents of downtown stores that reaches up to 30 percent.

The stores that are estimated to have closed, according to the Athens Trade Society’s data, are only groundfloor stores and those located on floors are not included.

On the part of owners, the trend is being noted of the traditional rent contract between the owner and the storekeeper being replaced by private agreements through which the owner of the real estate participates in the turnover of the business with perentages ranging between 20-25 percent.