A ‘bad week’ for businesses in whiffy Volos
Business owners in Volos are sniffing with dismay after hundreds of thousands of dead fish flooded the harbor of the seaside city in eastern mainland Greece, putting off regulars and tourists from visiting their establishments with their stench.
“I have a staff of 20 and we just sit around looking at each other. Morale is down to nought; revenues are down to nought,” the owner of a taverna on Volos’ main coastal strip, Dimitris Iakovidis, tells Kathimerini just under a week after the dead fish appeared in the popular destination’s harbor.
“We’re just waiting for the state to step in and help, but hopefully the people will take pity on us too and return to Volos,” he adds, echoing the sentiments of other local business owners as authorities investigate the cause of the phenomenon and scramble to get it under control.
“We’re hoping people will come downtown to shop, to bolster the businesses,” the president of the Volos Chamber of Commerce, Apostolos Ontopoulos, says ahead of the “White Night” event that took place on Friday, which involves shops staying open later and offering special discounts.
According to locals in central Volos, the situation with the smell has improved somewhat since nets were placed across the mouth of the Xiria stream, which was funneling the dead fish from the manmade Lake Karla into Volos’ harbor and the broader Pagasetic Gulf. But the problem is far from resolved even though the authorities have reportedly removed an estimated 160 tons of dead fish from the stream and port.
“The foul smell persists in Alykes, Agria and other parts, resulting in many businesses having to close. This has not been a good week for merchants,” says Ontopoulos, referring to popular parts of the seafront.
