Thousands of small business owners have had to close up their shops during the economic crisis in Greece.   Athenians can’t believe how  many ‘for rent’ signs they have seen on every shop window they happen to walk by. The hardest small businesses hit are the neighbourhood businesses just outside the city center. When a shop closes downtown a new one quickly opens because downtown Athens will always have its crowds of shoppers.  It’s a tourist area and there is a lot more to see and do than in any other area of Athens.   Many business owners have now realised that to survive they have to come up with an idea for a business that is s unique and creative and that people will really like and will want to come back to again.  Hundreds of  ‘souvlakia’ shops appeared like mushrooms and several months later those shops have had to close down.  How many ‘souvlakia’ can a person eat anyways? It’s not very healthy either.  Healthy eating is popular now and that is why frozen yogurt shops do well, but there are already enough of those now. The only positive thing about an economic crisis in that it can inspire people to be more creative. The competition is a lot more fierce now.  A new shop  cannot not be a carbon copy of a shop down the street.  The business should be unique and the business owners have to supply the people with the things that they really want.  Of course, it helps if  people (the customers) had  more money in their pockets too.