TRADERS in the Arasta area at Turkish Cypriot end of Ledra Street can hardly believe the change in their fortunes since the opening of the new crossing in central Nicosia last Thursday.
“We’ve seen a hundred per cent increase in trade over the past four days,” said clothes retailer Kerim Gumus yesterday as he counted out a large pile of euro notes, his shop bustling with Cypriot and foreign customers.
Restaurants were also reporting the same increase in trade.
“It’s fantastic. I haven’t seen an empty seat in this restaurant since the crossing opened.
Lunchtimes it’s mostly tourists; evenings it’s Cypriots, Greek and Turkish,” said Riza Baran, floor manager of Il Sabor Latino, an Italian restaurant not far from the crossing.
Even 51 year-old shoe shiner Mustafa Alpay, who has relocated himself right up against new crossing, has seen business improve in the past four days.
“I used to wander around the streets getting trade wherever I could, but I’m going to be permanently here now,” he said with a big smile.
Over the weekend, thousands of Greek Cypriots and foreign tourists flocked into the north at Ledra Street, bringing a welcome boost to an area that had over the years been losing trade to out-of-town supermarkets. Even on Sunday, when the shops had always closed, the area buzzed with shoppers and those simply out to take in the atmosphere.
“I had to work until 12.30 at night on Sunday. We always had Sundays off,” said shop assistant Cigdem Polat yesterday, adding that she hoped to get a raise for all the extra work she was putting in.
Clothing and shoe shop owner Omer Toptanci agreed, saying opening hours had “completely changed since the crossing opened”.
“In the past you wouldn’t see anyone on the streets after 6pm. Now the place is packed with people well into the night.”
Although cautious about making long term plans for the future of the area, traders are acutely aware of the financial pressures that will probably come to bear on them as new patterns of consumer demand emerge. Arasta has traditionally been a place where local people would buy textiles, ready-made clothes and shoes, and items for the home. More recently, however, the traditional crafts have been replaced by shops selling cheap imported clothing, shoes and accessories.
“This will be a period of transition,” said Yilmaz Topal, owner of a clothes and accessories shop.
“Things are going crazy at the moment and I expect a lot of these shops will be sold or rented out fairly soon. But as far as I’m concerned, I’m going to wait and see how things pan out.”
Sevim Bassin, who sells wool and other dressmaking materials, says she believes it is important Arasta does not change or modernise too much.
“A lot of the shops need to be fixed up, but we have to be careful to preserve some of the traditional style of the place.”
Indeed, some of those who have been in the Arasta for decades say they will continue with old practices and will never move away from their shops.
“I bought my shop here in 1973 for 15,000 Cyprus pounds. I will never sell it and I will never move out,” said 59-year-old Hilmi Ertac, who has worked in the street since then making and selling curtains.
On whether the current boom being enjoyed by the area will continue Ertac says, “Trade is trade, and you never know. I could be closing the shutters are the end of a bad day and suddenly a big-spending customer could arrive.”
Equally determined to stay regardless of how the street’s profile changes over the coming months and years is Omer Hasan, who has been running a small group of hardware shops for 50 years.
“This is not Ledra Street,” he says. “This is Arasta, and no one can throw me out.”
