McArthurGlen Group

Property investment group Pradera is putting both of its assets in Greece on the market.
Sources say it is at an advanced stage for the concession of the Village Entertainment Park (pictured) at Renti, near Piraeus, as well as the Florida 1 Retail Park at Pylaia in Thessaloniki.

McArthurGlen Athens at Spata, eastern Attica, will be the focus of union protests this Sunday against the opening of stores on Sundays and unofficial holidays.

Facing the risk of a big Boxing Day row that looked set to erupt due to plans by some retail chains in Greece to open the day after Christmas, Labor Minister Effie Achtsioglou hastened on Wednesday to introduce an obligatory holiday on December 26 for all enterprises that are usually closed on Sundays. Meanwhile retailers are asking for state protection when they do open on Sundays.

Plans by discount designer outlet mall McArthurGlen Athens to open on Boxing Day, December 26, when stores in Greece traditionally remain closed, have drawn an angry response even before being officially announced.

Shoppers reach out for television sets at a department store in Athens on Friday. The Black Friday sales appeared to beat retailers' expectations as hundreds of customers lined the streets outside the city's most popular department stores long before sunrise.

McArthurGlen Athens has sent a protest letter to the economy minister as the stores (except for the food service enterprises) at its outlet village in Spata, close to Eleftherios Venizelos Airport, have been excluded from a decision allowing shops to open every Sunday from May to October every year.

Shoppers crowd outside a central department store in the northern port city of Thessaloniki hoping to bag a bargain on the occasion of so-called Black Friday. The event, a day of discounts at stores which started in the United States for the day after Thanksgiving, lures consumers with generous discounts that can reach up to 80 percent.

One after another, Greece's retail chains and traders' associations are announcing their participation in November 25's "Black Friday" discount event, named after its US counterpart the day after Thanksgiving. In fact, some businesses are extending the sales window, starting today and continuing until Saturday.