Is it time to look carefully and comprehensively at the usefulness of trade festivals to improve market efficiency? Maybe it would be a good idea to introduce new “celebrations” in our daily lives in order to contribute to the “awakening”. both our spirit and the market? It is a commonly accepted principle that markets in countries where scholars' anniversaries are often celebrated, which have both cultural and commercial needs and orientation, are characterized by greater commercial dynamism and sustainability.
Far from hostile to the functioning of the market ideologies and entanglements that sometimes characterize even our own entrepreneurs and traders, it is a fact that in Cyprus the local markets, retail mainly, and generally the consumption of products and daily services, entertainment and entertainment, need serious rejuvenation. After all, “online”, as evidenced by the statistics, probably refers to fast food, some supermarkets, airline tickets, some clothing / footwear, some electronic devices and entertainment services, and other micro-consumption.
At the same time, the sidewalks of our cities are more often empty than full of consumers, the traffic in the retail stores most days of the week is sluggish, the “spirit” of the market is half-baked. The effort to create new and modern infrastructure in the center, e.g. of Nicosia and the rest of our cities, is a move in the right direction, but, as the example “revealed”, e.g. of Stasikratous, is not enough to “revive” the market. The sidewalks are better, but they remain sad and desperately empty.
In other words, the “renovation” that took place and is taking place in Makariou and elsewhere around the center, are not enough to revive the urban center. Certainly the improvement of the infrastructure, the parking, the renovation and the landscaping of the older buildings, which are now inhabited only by low-income immigrants, are necessary to restore the city center. But, apart from the infrastructure, there is still a lot to be done, most importantly the change of mentality and “customs”. Consumption is, after all, primarily a cultural characteristic… when it comes to meeting needs beyond the basic, which in Cyprus is unfortunately very, very basic, still due to cultural poverty more than economic.
We basically need to revive ourselves first, get out of our cars, walk on our sidewalks, and finally get into our stores on other days and hours, other than Saturday mornings. And to do this we must introduce new habits and new reasons, but also new conditions in business, so that the inhabitants of our cities can escape from the “suburban” and “provincial” mentality, which pushed them to seek housing, consumption and entertainment far away from the center, with the result that the latter literally “ruined”.
A very practical and first-of-the-first solution would be to introduce into the “daily life” of the market reasons for reviving consumption by creating new “institutions”. And I am not referring to the so-called Hallmark holidays, which for those who know are fictitious holidays, but to more substantial and institutional acts of mobilizing the consumer public, in addition to what they offer, e.g. the approaching Christmas and New Year holidays. We may need to create anniversaries that become occasions for us to go out more often, and adjust our business hours to be in line with those of the mall, but also of the so-called “tourist” zones. We need to eliminate distortions and at the same time create incentives for joint cultural and commercial activity.
Because, unfortunately, due to historical and cultural misery, in Cyprus we celebrate, for the most part, our “passions”, the sufferings of the nation and religion, and with the exception of a “carnival” and a December, instead of a little Easter, the Our place, our world, our street, our market, has no other way out. And neither the amateur and limited-range's one-day's marketing festival or the copying and misrepresentations of other countries' customs can provide the answer. We need to think outside of barriers and entanglements and establish, literally, extra pleasurable occasions for us and our cities and our markets to come to life first. And that is in the interest of all of us. For our mental health, but also for the health of our pocket…
