Operating rules for the Agora – and a new date for completion

Delays to the completion of the Agora in Chania have been so regular that they no longer excite comment. The last officially announced deadline for completion was Easter 2026, but this will clearly not be met, with summer or autumn being predicted as the most likely dates in an article in Haniotika Nea, which presents the operating rules for the new market.

The Municipal Agora will have a traditional character
A Municipal Agora with food and catering establishments, without supermarkets and with strict conditions as regards the occupation of space and the exploitation of merchandise, is specified in the Operating Regulations seen by Haniotika Nea. The long awaited document was presented officially to the Chania Municipal Councillors on Monday 6th April. The rules will be applied with the opening of the Municipal Market, within the summer or autumn.

View looking down the main aisle of the Agora, with the white walls of shop fronts on either side and the wooden ceiling with open skylights above.
A recent visit by Creta TV showed the Agora to be in an advanced stage of completion, but opening is not now expected before the summer. At bottom right is what appears to be one of the sun-shades to be installed over the shop façades.

Specifically, the regulations state that: “the commercial activity which is carried out within the shops of the Municipal Agora must as a priority contribute to the promotion of local and traditional products and merchandise and the highlighting of local gastronomy and cultural traditions.”

Occupation of the Agora’s communal spaces, apart from the space made available to the shops, is forbidden, as is the placing of machinery in those spaces. Also forbidden is the use of touts to draw in customers, the placing of advertising boards and other promotional materials, the distribution of leaflets, etc.

Also forbidden in the Municipal Agora is the siting of monitors and TVs on the shops’ fascias, the placing of illuminated signs outside the agreed shop areas, or the use of music outside and inside those areas, except when in possession of a legal permit. Smoking is forbidden in the Agora.

The monthly rental will be deposited by the shopowner/lessee within the first ten days of each month, without further notification.

Six categories of products-services
The shops which operate in the Agora will fall into six broad categories, with the emphasis on food and drink, but also catering. Specifically they will be:

1. The primary sector
— Butchers
— Fishmongers
— Greengrocers

2. Processed food products
— Bakeries/bread shops
— Shops for traditional dough products
— Patisseries, ice cream sellers
— Delicatessen, cheese and yogurt sellers
— Frozen food shops
— Sellers of dried fruit and nuts

3. Catering
— Mass catering businesses (snacks or full meals)
— Cafés, café-bars, traditional kafenia

4. Traditional products
— Traditional shops with local products (edible products only)
— Coffee shops [shops selling ground coffee etc]

5. Drinks
— Cretan wine
— Cretan spirits
— Cretan beers
— Liquor stores

6. Other activities
— Flower shops
— Cretan pharmaceuticals/cosmetic products (produced by companies with main office in Crete, with raw materials derived from the primary sector)

The layout
According to the planned layout, the eastern and western wings will house the butchers and fishmongers (as in the past); on the southern aisle (towards Sophocles Venizelos Square) will be products of the primary sector; while the northern aisle (towards the steps on Tsouderon Street) will house the restaurants and cafés.

Diagram of the cross-shaped layout of the Agora, with labels in dark red.


In the new Agora, rental of more than shop by the same person or organisation will not be allowed. Also forbidden is the participation of an individual, who is the lessee of a shop, as a partner in any proportion of an organisation which is the lessee of another shop; as well as the participation of any company, which is a lessee, in another organisation which is also the lessee of a shop.

Each shopowner will be obliged to collect and keep in containers all the rubbish produced by their business until its collection and removal, according to the timetable of the “Door-to-door” programme. They will also be obliged to sort recyclable materials for collection, while catering businesses will have to make separate collections of organic waste.

No supermarket chains
Another feature of the new regulations is that the following will not be allowed:
— Businesses which are part of retail chains, of national or international scope, regardless of the type of products sold.
— Franchises and branches of major retail groups.
— Members of hypermarket and supermarket chains.

Working hours
The proposed working hours for the Agora are as follows:
— From 1st November to 31st March: from 6.00 am (opening) to 11.00 pm (closing).
— From 1st April to 31st October: from 6.00 am (opening) to 1.00 am (closing).
From 1st November to 31st March, opening on Sundays will be a matter for decision by the Municipal Council. Supply of goods will be allowed in two stages: a morning period from 6.30 to 9.30 am, and an afternoon period from 3.30 pm to 5.00 pm.

Outside operation for catering businesses
At the end of working hours the four main entrances will be closed by the Municipality of Chania. According to the regulations, those catering businesses which have external doors giving on to Hortatson Square and the “Fridge” building (north west and north east of the Agora) can continue to operate after hours by using those external doors.

Technical Guide

Grey-painted iron girders of the mezzanines seen under the wooden roof.
The metal frames of the mezzanines in the shops are painted with RAL 7011 “Iron grey”. Photo Creta TV.

The technical guide which accompanies the regulations gives instructions as to the decorative specifications which must be followed by shopowners in the new Agora. Thus:
“The floors are covered in white Kokinaras Dionysos marble with grey veins, while the mezzanines are covered with wood flooring. The walls are delivered painted in the colour VITEX 0286 Yellow Page (quality Max).
“The window frames, the metal roller shutters of the shops and the metal sun-shades in the aisles of the Agora are installed and painted according to the specifications: RAL 7042 (Traffic grey) for the frames and roller shutters, and RAL 7011 (Iron grey) for the metal sun-shades and the metal structure of the mezzanines.”

A slab of white marble with grey veining,
   The floors of the shops will be covered in white “Kokinaras Dionysos” marble with grey veins. Photo: www.petroma.gr

Shopowners are obliged, following the expiry of their lease, to return their space in the same condition as they received it. The shops will be delivered to the lessees as a shell and “no covering is allowed internally or externally on the flooring of the shops of the Municipal Agora.” Particular criteria are set for the fascias of the shops and how they should look, as well as the partition walls, signboards, false ceilings and floors, with instructions which must be adhered to.
(Haniotika Nea, 04/04/26)