Kafeneios back after the summer lull

You could cut the tension with a knife on Friday morning at the Panellinion, located on the corner of Solonos and Mavromichali in the downtown Athens district of Exarchia: The chessboards were out at the kafeneio, with pawns, rooks and castles positioned for battle. No one came to get the battle started though, so owner Yiannis Katsionis switched on the TV to watch the news instead. He looked like he was waiting for August to be over and the city to get back to life rather than for his first customers after the holiday hiatus.

"We never used to close in August because we had a steady stream of customers. There was no internet to keep people indoors at their consoles. Now we close for 10 days or so because there isn't enough business to stay open for," he tells Kathimerini.

With 35 years in the business, Katsionis is in the ideal position to analyze consumer behavior. ...