Chania: auction for 13 market shops

The Municipality of Chania will hold an open, oral, competitive-bid auction for the lease of thirteen vacant shops in the Chania Municipal Market on Monday 31 August 2026, according to the notice published on Sunday 16 August. The process begins at 09:00 in the Municipal Council chamber, on the first floor of the town hall at 29 Kydonias Street, before the Auctions Committee. The highest opening bid concerns shop K1, with an area of 29.25 square metres and use as a traditional café, and stands at 1,960 euros a month, with a letter of guarantee of 2,352 euros. The lowest concerns shop D3, a ground floor of 14.72 square metres with a 6.21-square-metre mezzanine, for use as a fishmonger’s, at 640 euros a month with a 768-euro guarantee.

Among the other properties, shop D1 for use as a bakery starts at 800 euros, N5 for cured meats and cheese at 1,613 euros, N7 as a greengrocer’s at 1,607 euros, B2 at 1,773 euros and D12 for use as a food service outlet at 1,607 euros. The notice explicitly states that uses as a florist, for pharmaceutical and cosmetic products, and as an ice cream shop are not permitted, «because the quota of uses has been filled». Shops that are not awarded will be put up for auction again at the end of the process, while if the auction is not completed on 31 August it will continue the following day. Information is available from the Revenue and Municipal Property Department, on 28213 41756.

The quota of uses is the element that matters most for how the building works. The Chania Municipal Market, one of the city’s most important listed buildings, has faced criticism over many years that the mix of its shops is shifting away from supplying residents and towards tourist consumption. Restricting particular uses and preserving places for fishmongers, greengrocers, bakeries and cheese sellers is a tool with which the municipality is trying to keep the building working as a market and not merely as a visitor destination. The range of starting prices, from 640 to 1,960 euros, reflects both differences in size and the position of each shop within the building.

The figure of thirteen vacant shops shows that filling the building remains an open question, since this is yet another round of auctions. The municipality has not announced how many shops were awarded in previous rounds, nor what share of the building is in operation today. The development matters directly for the centre of Chania, which is also in the spotlight this year over infrastructure issues, such as the swimming ban at Nea Chora that was partly lifted on the same day. More reporting from the area on the Chania page.