The One Euro Store

Change is never easy especially in Ikaria. One of the most dramatic changes on the island happened when Greece converted from the drachma to the Euro in 2002. The Greek drachma up until 2002 was the oldest continually used currency in the world.  

Nowhere was the currency confusion more evident than in our little kafenion. The kindly owner, Aryiro, always seemed to have a difficult time in managing the small restaurant on her own, sometimes forgetting items that were ordered. The one area she seemed most perplexed in was figuring out a customer’s change. With the introduction of the Euro her confusion turned into a full blown nightmare. In trying to convert drachmas to Euros, she spent more time doing the math than filling the pressing orders of her other customers. Food to be served was left on tables while she pounded away at her calculator over and over again. More often than not, exasperated customers would request a pad of paper and figure out the total bill themselves.

 Not to let this condition of perpetual uncertainty linger much longer she came up with the perfect pricing scheme. Every item in her kafenion would become one Euro, from a cup of coffee, to an ice cream, to an ouzo to the meze, everything would be one Euro. A simple effective stress reducer that made her life and the lives of her customers easier, she became the first Ikarian One Euro Store.