Shutters come down on historic Athens bookstore

Customers browse books at the Eleftheroudakis bookstore on Panepistimiou Street in central Athens on Saturday. It was the store’s last day in business. Founded as a family business in 1898 with a single bookstore on Syntagma Square, the company gradually expanded, launching several outlets throughout Greece. Saturday marked the closure of the flagship store, the last one standing in a sector hit hard by the country’s ongoing financial crisis. Its owners vowed to return when "a stable business environment" is in place. [ANA-MPA]