{"id":14432,"date":"2026-04-11T23:35:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T23:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/11\/plaka-shopkeepers-fear-a-difficult-summer-ahead\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T23:35:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T23:35:08","slug":"plaka-shopkeepers-fear-a-difficult-summer-ahead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/11\/plaka-shopkeepers-fear-a-difficult-summer-ahead\/","title":{"rendered":"Plaka shopkeepers fear a difficult summer ahead"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"post-1300649\">\n    <!-- .entry-header --><\/p>\n<div class=\"first-img article_thumbnail_wrapper\" itemscope=\"\" itemprop=\"associatedMedia\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\">\n                                                                    <picture><source media=\"(max-width: 767px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ekathimerini.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Ioanna_velentza-320x200.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"960\" height=\"600\" class=\"picture-main-block-image\" data-nxsrc=\"https:\/\/www.ekathimerini.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Ioanna_velentza.jpg\" alt=\"Plaka shopkeepers fear a difficult summer ahead\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ekathimerini.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Ioanna_velentza-960x600.jpg\"\/><br \/>\n                        <\/source><\/picture>\n<p>Jewelry shop owner Ioanna Velentza, 26, noted that metal costs have doubled, forcing price increases.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\" itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p>In the winding streets of Athens\u2019 historic Plaka district, beneath the Acropolis, business owners are bracing for an uncertain tourist season amid regional conflicts and rising costs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re caught between two wars,\u201d said Pantelis Vassilakos, a 30-year restaurant veteran. \u201cThe upward trend that existed before the war no longer exists.\u201d He warned that many businesses may be forced to close if hostilities don\u2019t stop soon.<\/p>\n<p>Jewelry shop owner Ioanna Velentza, 26, noted that metal costs have doubled, forcing price increases, while rents in the area reach as high as \u20ac10,000. \u201cI think there will be a reduction, even from markets that reliably send tourists,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Andromahi Diplaridi, with 48 years in Plaka, takes a bleaker outlook: \u201cEveryone\u2019s in debt,\u201d she said, adding she might last another year at most.<\/p>\n<p>Yet tourists continue arriving. An American theater teacher from South Carolina was leading 22 students through ancient sites, calling the experience \u201cunbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- .entry-content --><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>\n        var NXFBPixelFunc = function () {\n            document.removeEventListener(\"scroll\", NXFBPixelFunc);\n            setTimeout(function () {\n                !function (f, b, e, v, n, t, s) {\n                    if (f.fbq) return;\n                    n = f.fbq = function () {\n                        n.callMethod ?\n                            n.callMethod.apply(n, arguments) : n.queue.push(arguments)\n                    };\n                    if (!f._fbq) f._fbq = n;\n                    n.push = n;\n                    n.loaded = !0;\n                    n.version = '2.0';\n                    n.queue = [];\n                    t = b.createElement(e);\n                    t.async = !0;\n                    t.src = v;\n                    s = b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n                    s.parentNode.insertBefore(t, s)\n                }(window, document, 'script',\n                    'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n                fbq('init', '109138906120213');\n                fbq('track', 'PageView');\n            }, 0)\n        };\n        document.addEventListener(\"scroll\", NXFBPixelFunc);\n    <\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ekathimerini.com\/economy\/1300649\/plaka-shopkeepers-fear-a-difficult-summer-ahead\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jewelry shop owner Ioanna Velentza, 26, noted that metal costs have doubled, forcing price increases. In the winding streets of Athens\u2019 historic Plaka district, beneath the Acropolis, business owners are bracing for an uncertain tourist season amid regional conflicts and rising costs. \u201cWe\u2019re caught between two wars,\u201d said Pantelis Vassilakos, a 30-year restaurant veteran. \u201cThe &#8230; <\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more-container\"><a title=\"Plaka shopkeepers fear a difficult summer ahead\" class=\"read-more button\" href=\"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/11\/plaka-shopkeepers-fear-a-difficult-summer-ahead\/#more-14432\" aria-label=\"Read more about Plaka shopkeepers fear a difficult summer ahead\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14433,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.ekathimerini.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Ioanna_velentza-960x600.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","no-featured-image-padding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14432\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}