Business Insider: “Ermou-This Used to Be World’s 10th Richest Shopping Street”

The international media are reporting on the negative aspects of Greece on a daily basis. Add to the onslaught a feature by Joe Weisenthal from the Business Insider about  one of the most popular shopping streets of Athens, Ermou.
According to the editor in 2007, Ermou Street used to be the 10th most expensive shopping street in the entire world. It was right up there with 5th Avenue in New York, Ginza Road in Tokyo, and the Champs-Élysées in France.
He comments that most stores are now empty and their storefronts are full of graffiti. The article is accompanied by many photos of  Ermou Street and mostly, of the devastated stores.
The captions below the pictures appear somehow ironic, though. The journalist took photographs of some famous designer stores on Ermou Street which have now either shut down or become deserted. This is why he says that the buildings seem “abandoned” and that there are only stray dogs browsing at the windows.
He also concludes that “taking a trip down Ermou Street is a quick way to see how fast and far the Greek economy has fallen.”