DISGRUNTLED shop owners are suing Nicosia Municipality, claiming the pedestrianisation of Ledra and Onasagorou streets eight years ago has driven them out of business.
The shopkeepers say their sales have taken a plunge, with shoppers reluctant to buy from shops outside which they cannot park their cars.
Nicosia Municipal Secretary Andreas Andreadis told the Cyprus Mail that changing the pedestrian streets back into roads was out of the question.
“We hold meetings with European experts and we take decisions based on what is good for the town and for the market as well,” he said.
“I have no idea who the shop owners suing us are, but I know there are just a few of them and that they will try to get reimbursed for suffering losses on the basis of the fact that their shops are on a pedestrian street instead of a road.”
Shopkeepers’ union Povek said yesterday it had nothing to do with the action.
Melios Georgiou, Secretary General of Povek, told the Cyprus Mail: “The Union is in no way related to the lawsuits because our members in general have not suffered any losses.”
But several shopkeepers on Ledra Street say business has fallen away since 1992, when cars were barred from Ledra Street.
“Business is slow. Since the road became pedestrian, sales have fallen by 50 per cent,” said David Shahabian, who owns the Orologas watch shop.
“One problem is that there is no adequate parking around the area for shoppers. In 1995, many shops moved to different areas and since then it has been very quiet. Before 1992, I used to serve six or seven customers at the same time. Now, my sales are down by 50 per cent. The road should not have become a pedestrian street, but maybe it’s too late to change it now,” Shahabian said.
Another shop owner said: “ In the last few years and especially in the last one there has been a dramatic drop in sales. Maybe it should become a road on weekdays and maintain its pedestrian nature on the weekends. If there were adequate parking lots it would not have been a problem. But there are too few of them and parking on adjacent roads is forbidden.”
But Andreas Yiasemi, who owns the Pandouflino slipper shop has a different view, putting down the fall in sales to the fact that people were unaware that there were in fact quite a few parking lots near the area.
“Most people do not know where parking lots are, and avoid coming down here. They are also afraid of mistakenly crossing into the occupied areas through the Green Line, which is quite near. The Municipality should raise awareness among people about the five parking lots in the area and give clear instructions on how to get there because it is not always that simple to find your way in the old town.”
