A man walks by a deserted shopping district in central Athens. – Photo by Reuters
Thousands of small shops and businesses have closed up over the past few years of Europe’s economic downturn, especially in the so-called “PIIGS” countries of Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain.
Among the shuttered businesses many remain open and credit their survival to sticking to the basics: focusing on customers and quality, staying flexible and looking for creative solutions, keeping prices reasonable and – perhaps most important of all – avoiding taking out loans.
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