Shopkeepers in Alanya are experiencing the harsh winter

High rents, restrictions on residence permits for foreigners, and high input costs have brought businesses to the brink of bankruptcy.

Businesses that were thriving in Alanya just two years ago are now at their breaking point.

Shopkeepers, longing for their former glory days, are crying out that if no action is taken, they will disappear one by one.

The crisis has severely affected nearly every sector — construction, real estate, restaurants, and jewelry stores. Especially in the food service and real estate industries, shopkeepers closing their shops, laying off staff, and shrinking their businesses are expressing hopelessness about the upcoming season.

WE CAN'T KEEP UP WITH COSTS

They express that due to high inflation, they can’t maintain a stable pricing policy, which breaks the trust between customers and sellers.

Shopkeepers, struggling to cover high rent costs, point out that local customers have decreased, and even foreign clients are starting to economize.

Here’s how the shopkeepers describe their troubles and potential solutions:

Jeweler Hüseyin Topuz: "We used to have Scandinavians and Europeans. When the residence permits were closed, our business dropped by 50%.

The economic situation of our people now only allows them to buy quarter or gram gold. Some even buy for savings and bring it back a week later to sell at a loss.

The shop is my property. We work as a family; otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to cope.

Our profit margin is set, but prices keep going up every day. Especially electricity bills have become the biggest burden on us.

This winter will be very tough, I wish patience for all our shopkeepers".

Restaurateur Hüseyin Sertaç Kılınç: "I’ve been in tourism for 20 years. This has been the worst season. Our business has been very bad this year.

As shopkeepers, we have expectations from the municipality. There should be a plan for the number of businesses. There are dozens of businesses on the same street doing the same thing, and none of them are making a profit. The pie is too small.

We need to spread out businesses regionally.

Our input costs are too high, no matter how much we sell, customers find it expensive. We can’t afford to hire staff on minimum wage because we need qualified workers. A product priced with electricity, water, taxes, and rent cannot be cheap.

We used to serve 90% local customers, now 90% of our clients are foreigners. Local people can no longer afford to eat out.

Due to high inflation in our country, even foreigners sometimes just look and leave.

To breathe easy in our region, the residence permit issue must be solved urgently.

Unless inflation decreases nationwide and trust in the market is restored, bankruptcies will start in every sector.

I hope that we will return to our former bright days soon".

Market vendor Yılmaz Yalçın: "Right now, our business is very slow, prices are high compared to last year. People have lost their purchasing power. After the extreme increase in fresh vegetable prices, consumers were forced to switch to dried legumes, but those are expensive too.

Our regular foreign customers have decreased. Production costs are very high. Fertilizers and pesticides are extremely expensive, and in reality, the vendor, the producer, and the consumer are all right.

I sell potatoes and onions, sometimes people buy just one onion or one potato, and it’s very discouraging for us.

There’s no planning in agriculture; a product that makes money one year is planted by everyone the next year, and then it doesn’t bring in profit and stays with the producer.

For price stability, good planning and a public-sector approach are needed".