A group called the Nicosia-Cyprus Capital initiative has launched a new push for a rethink on the way traffic is allowed on Makarios Avenue.

Anyone who has been down there recently can testify to the dearth of retail stores and cafes and the “for rent” signs along both sides of what used to be the capital’s busiest shopping street.

There are probably around two reasonably busy cafes. Costa Coffee has also recently shut.

Makarios Avenue used to be abuzz with cafes and shops. Now there can be four or five empty stores in a row before hitting the next open one.

Even the citizens centre has been moved, ending whatever foot traffic it had managed to generate, even if it was only a coffee before heading home.

The overall decline dates back to the financial crisis in 2013 after which high rents became an obstacle for many businesses and people were not spending. 

The Covid shutdown didn’t help either although the street never really recovered after 2013.

It was then revamped to emerge in its current iteration as mainly a pedestrian area.

Businesses say visitation to the street has since dropped even further. 

“Regulating traffic has not proved a panacea for our city centre” the group said.

They’re right. Yes, people still go to Makarios Avenue but it’s more “task-oriented” than “socially oriented” such as window shopping. This is why many now flock to malls.

Social shoppers gravitate to places that are lively but are not overly crowded.

No one goes to Makarios Avenue to sit on pristine benches just to watch the world go by. There are better places to do that… and the world is not going by there anyway.

Many are also put off due to the lack of parking in that area.   

Studies show that for commercial enterprises to succeed in shopping areas and to maintain viability and vitality they “should not just be places to shop” but should also be environments that offer “experiences for consumers”.

It’s not clear though whether more shops attract more cafes or vice versa.

 “Lifeless main streets are bad for business,” said one study. “They are calamitous for communities, stripping city centres of their social significance… analysis of the challenges confronting main streets must proceed with one eye on commercial considerations.”

Makarios Avenue seems to have sacrificed the latter though it wasn’t the intent. But without enough shops and cafés it’s unlikely to get its buzz back.   

The Nicosia initiative group seems to believe there’s a workable compromise so that remains to be seen. More traffic would only defeat the purpose of the pedestrian revamp.

Also, authorities have a quandary because the millions from the EU with the strings attached would have to be returned if traffic were to resume.

It’s always nice to walk down a pedestrianised street but without enough commercial activity to enhance this feature, it’s just another “dead road” that leads from A to B.

If the aim was to make Makarios Avenue pretty but empty then the revamp has been a total success.