Back in business
OPEN-AIR markets are back in business as part of the ongoing easing of Covid-19 measures by ministers.
Lambousa Market, located at the Chateau Lambousa hotel in Lapta, opened its gates to hundreds of visitors last Saturday for the first time in weeks.
“It was great to have reopened following the lockdown,” market owner Gordon Kent told Cyprus Today.
“We will be open every Saturday from 7am to 1pm. Every market stallholder is required to have a negative PCR result, and one person is permitted for every five square metres, which is absolutely fine as our market is quite spacious.
“Every person is required to wear a mask and temperatures are checked upon arrival.
“We expect things to normalise further after the majority of the population has been vaccinated.”
The Evergreen Market, also in Lapta, announced their opening with “all stallholders required to have a valid negative PCR test” and visitors asked to “adhere to the rules and wear masks”.
Eric Yakudoğlu, of the Evergreen Market and Cafe, said that they are following stringent measures, with PCR tests for stallholders once every seven days, and requirements that everyone is at least 1.5m apart and wearing masks. He said they check the temperatures of people on entry and take their contact details. The market is open from 12pm to 6pm on Tuesdays and 8am to 3pm on Saturdays.
Meanwhile the Yenierenköy open market was another to reopen, on Sunday, for the first time in six weeks, following the resumption of Lefkoşa and Girne outdoor markets.
However stallholders told Cyprus Today’s sister newspaper Kıbrıs that trade was much lower than before the lockdown because shoppers have less buying-power.
Trader Adem Yazar said: “We have been severely affected during the closure period, and have been unable to pay our water and electricity
bills. Our produce has gone off. Our sales are low. We are travelling here from Lefkoşa, which costs us 200TL for fuel, 200TL for renting the market stall, and 200TL for food . . . We need at least 800TL just to cover these average costs, which we aren’t able to make in one day.”