Bit Pazar

The presenter of the TV show ‘True Stories’ informs us that Bit Pazar is a second-hand market operating in Thessaloniki since 1928. It was a plot of land where the refugees who came to Greece after the signing of the Lausanne Treaty and the ensuing population exchange sold used objects and clothes which may have been covered in lice (‘bit’ is the Turkish word for louse). Initially, makeshift stalls were erected selling used items out in the open, replaced soon by the square of Bit Pazar which included six arcades and several ground floor stores with dwellings right above them. The construction of the square was partially funded by the Refugee Association and the idea for it was born out of the major dual crisis of the time, the refugee crisis and the ensuing economic crisis.

Since then, the square has witnessed many more crises affecting both the economy at large and local commerce in particular. It has also repeatedly hosted sellers struck by international circumstance, such as migrants from former socialist regimes trying to make a living by selling used items mainly on the pavements surrounding the square. Hastaoglou mentions that, even though the shops on Bit Pazar Square might have changed uses multiple times, over the course of decades the wider area has become irrevocably associated with the market of second-hand and cut-price goods.