Shopping in Greece: competing with Milan

2024 Author: Harold Hamphrey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:06

If fashionistas and fashionistas go to Milan, which, as you know, is not on the sea coast, to shop, then Greek cities and towns can compete with this Italian capital of fashion. After all, there you can combine shopping trips with relaxing on the beach and interesting excursions. Shopping in Greece is calm and measured, like the whole lifestyle of the locals. Shops work with a huge break for lunch (here it is called mesimeri). Small boutiques close at 14.30 in summer and open only at 17.00. In winter, the opening hours change somewhat: the siesta is reduced by an hour, but shops also close earlier. The Greeks are known for their cool attitude towards work. Therefore, some private shops on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays are open only until noon. And that is not all. Many shops are closed on Saturday as well as on Sunday.

But almost always and everywhere you can make a successful shopping inGreece: Halkidiki, Thessaloniki, the islands and, of course, the capital city of Athens are the best examples of this. In every town there is at least one street that is at the mercy of merchants. As a rule, such shopping areas are located in the city center. This is the Athenian street of Ermou, in Thessaloniki - Tsimiski, in Rethymno - Arcadiou. Among other things, in every densely populated area of megacities there are Ok chain supermarkets that work without interruption from early morning until late at night.

This country has not yet been affected by the process of globalization, so most of the products on store shelves are locally produced. But world-famous label hunters will also be pleased. Shopping in Greece will allow you to purchase goods that are practically not found outside this region, as well as buy French or German gizmos in "CARREFOUR" or "LIDL".

There are a lot of shopping malls in Greece. As usual, they are located on the outskirts of big cities: "Metro Mall", "Athens Mall", "Golden Hall" in Athens or "Mediterranean Cosmos" in Thessaloniki. From mid-July to the end of August, as well as from mid-January to the end of February, discount season is announced in these stock stores. But even in addition to these periods, from time to time some mall holds a promotion or sale. From a position of economy, shopping in Greece is very profitable. The most budgetary supermarket chains are Sklavenitis (ΣΚΛΑΒΕΝΙΤΗΣ) and Ab Vasilopoulos (ΑΒΒΑΣΙΛΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ). Olive oil and other goods for which the country is famous can be found in Thanopoulos (ΘΑΝΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ).

Each region of the country is still famous for some specific crafts, and this circumstance must be taken into account when shopping in Greece. In Crete, for example, it is impossible to do without buying leather goods, especially sandals or boots. Pottery is brought from Skyros, Sifnos and Rhodes. The islands of Kefalonia and Zakynthos are famous for woodcarving and embroidery. Athens and Rhodes are the capitals of jewelry craftsmanship. You need to buy gold jewelry there. But for silver gizmos, it makes sense to stop by the town of Ioannina, located in the Epirus region.

But the best shopping in Greece is, first of all, fur coats. For fur products, special tours are specially organized. The capital of furriers is Kastoria in the north of the country. It just so happened historically that in this city, located in the mountains, with rather severe winters, there was a demand for warm jackets. And since there were many beavers in the surrounding forests, at first fur coats and short fur coats were made from their skins. Well, now Kastoria has become a center for breeding furs of the widest profile. If you can’t get to the north of Greece in any way, you can buy a beautiful fur coat in Athens and the country’s tourist centers. But it will cost 500-600 euros more.