Market of Ermoupolis

From the middle of the 19th century - a time of development of its bourgeoisie Syros Was created in Ermoupolis a central Market, one of the oldest in modern Greece, the so-called and Ermoupolis market.

The main building was where the Pallas Summer Cinema is located today. The road that connected the market with the beach and the port was Chios Street, which was also the heart of the growing trade of that time.

Today there is only Chios Street with the name "the grocery stores" - one of the three grocery stores that sell local fruits and vegetables - and it is still the street that gathers some grocery stores. There are two on the street butchers, by Nikitas Daleziou (the Athenaikon) near the beach and Babis Daleziou (the Salimaki), to the City Hall, where in addition to the meat they make the Syrian sausages with fennel and the selected louzes, with the cinnamon, the spices and the cloves. They both hang on ropes in their shop windows.

At 4 Chiou Street is located grocery store of Kostas Prekas on the shelves and in the refrigerators is the whole gastronomy of Syros, while a little above there are two fishmongers with fish of the day and beyond Django the brewery of the Karakatsani brothers that produces fresh ice cream in 75 different flavors of local cow's milk.

Asking some people in the market (Costas Prekas, Manolis Vihos, Babis Gabriel), who grew up in the market as children, we learned the following beautifully about Syros in 1960.

On the beach of Ermoupolis there were cafes (Boubas, Kostikas, Mykoniatiko, Georgiadis, Andriotiko, Tiniako, Vatista, Balkans, Silivani, Peratikou, Agiotakis, etc.) attended by retirees, market people and visitors to the island.

Η Naxos street was the street market and had mainly commercial food. The only cafe was owned by George Kapelas (Tzika) which also had two billiards for the youth. Out of it was Mastrosideris with his cockerels. Manolis Vihos tells us:

"On an old stroller with four wheels, Mastrosideris had installed a charcoal grill and cooked roosters three times a week. The best I've eaten in my life.

Another eater was Spinos pancake shop which offered in paper cones fried potatoes, fish and meatballs, the last of the dozens that remained ".

Except of the grocery stores ("Pantelis Roussos", "Orfanos", "Hatzigiannis", "Giannakopoulos", "Markou"), groceries ("Tsoukatos", "Vlamis", "Vamvakousis", "Nea Agora", "Kypseli" which in fact had delivery with couriers who delivered the orders by bicycle) and butcher ("Dalezios", "Cretan") there was also winery of "Cough", the clothes and textile dye of Katevatis (Bozouglou) and Barber shop the "Haircutter" that closed recently.

Despite the shocking losses in stores, mainly due to the dominance of Supermarkets, the atmosphere in the market of Ermoupolis remains attractive and the Chiou street is a street that gives a special identity to the city.