THE STREETS and shops in central Paphos are empty, just three days before Christmas, a usually busy time in the town, putting the survival of the commercial centre in danger, officials said yesterday.
Trade in the town centre could die out unless shop owners take drastic measures now, warned Paphos councillor Nicos Similides. Paphos Mayor Savvas Vergas echoed this concern saying the old market area and roads leading to it were, “like a desert”.
Haridemous Papadopoulos, the head of shopkeepers union POVEK said shop owners had been expressing their desperation over the lack of custom in the run up to Christmas.
The annual event ‘Christmas Sunday’ organised by the municipality of Paphos is usually a huge crowd puller but according to Similides only 300 or so people showed up for this year’s event at the weekend.
“We had Santa Claus, magicians and music, but it was so sad as not many people turned up.
The shops on Makarios Avenue, the market and surrounding areas were all open but there were very few people,” he said.
“Many of the shops don’t seem to have grasped the idea of decorating their window displays, some had done nothing for Christmas, there were no displays,” he said. “As a municipality, we spent a lot of money on the event for nothing.”
He also said the lack of trade could be put down to the state of the economy and the weather, and the quality the goods on sale could also be better.
“The shops can’t compete with the big shopping centres so they must try to bring better quality goods with cheaper prices. I think the problem is really going to hit this area in 2010,”
Similides said he had spoken to some of the shops and advised them to start a committee to decide how many of each type of shop operates in the area and what new business should open.
“If they don’t take action trade will die out. Why would I go to the centre to buy a pair of shoes for €100 when I can buy a pair in a shopping centre for €85, which are better quality,” Similides said.
POVEK’s Papadopoulos said: “The customers in the shops are very few. This is because there are many supermarkets and shops in Paphos. For every eighteen people in Paphos, there is one shop. In the European Union there is one store for every hundred people.”
“Also, there are fewer tourists than any other year, and of course the global crisis doesn’t help,” he added.
Papadopoulos believes the situation is very hard to change at the moment. ‘As the city of Paphos grew in size, many new main roads were built and they have a lot of shops on them, these are scattered around. In addition, supermarkets were built in the centre of the town and we requested authorities at the time to build supermarkets about 15 or 20 km away from the main streets. “These elements don’t help us,” he said.
He added that the shops were hoping that business picks up between now and Christmas Day otherwise it will be impossible to holiday-season trade.
