The laiki agora (people’s market) is an important social custom and tradition in the streets of Greece.
These farmers’ markets with makeshift stalls visit neighborhoods on given days to sell foodstuffs, gardening and household equipment, children’s toys and various other products. For most Greeks, it is a cheap way to get household products.
There is plenty of competition among stallholders who compete with each other for the best prices. Visitors to the markets know that the freshest, most high-quality produce can be obtained in the morning whereas as the day proceeds, stallholders lower prices to get rid off all that is left behind.
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These days, more and more people, in desperation, wait for stalls to pack up before they begin to pick scraps left behind.
Eurokinissi photo reporter George Kontarinis visited the people’s markets at Neos Kosmos with his wife, a typical middle/working class area south of the city centre, for his fruit and veggie shopping. “We had gone shopping shortly before the laiki’s closure and I observed all that was going on,” he told Neos Kosmos.
He discreetly shot a few photos as people, mainly women, began their scavenger hunt. “There was a man there as well but it was not obvious as to what he was doing so I did not submit that photograph.”
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