Greek fur stores

[gai]

I'm wondering if there's a chance anyone here has been to Greece, particularly Kastoria, and visited the fur stores there? I recently did some research and seems there's really so many furriers there. I even went on Google Maps and looked at street view down a road, and there were endless fur stores. Would love to go there sometime. Also the Kastoria Fur Fair seems like an amazing event to attend.

[Charfur]

Kastoria is quit nice, you can do plenty of walks along the lake side.  Of course there are many fur stores and workshops, but only a few of the are willing to produce mens fur coats. I bought my mink coat at Afrodite furs. It is one of the many shops just outside Kastoria, they gave me a good price and were capable of making their own coats, prices vary across the shops a lot and can differ more the 50% between the shops. Apart from the fur shops the area is not particularly special and it can be a long but nice drive to get there if your not staying nearby.  Payment is usually cash to avoid the taxes (22%) but paying by card is no problem but more expensive.

If you're going there I would recommend to stay in Paralia area and make a day trip to Kastoria, from here you can see a bit more of the interesting sites. Paralia also has a lot of stores but less workshops. In this way it is easier to relax on the beach while your items are manufactured :).

[Norwegian lynx]

I've visited lots of Greek fur stores, as I love going on holidays there. Both Crete, Rhodos and Zakynthos are littered with fur stores, big and small, and are cheap to travel to.

[gai]

On 1/24/2021 at 3:43 AM, Charfur said:

Kastoria is quit nice, you can do plenty of walks along the lake side.  Of course there are many fur stores and workshops, but only a few of the are willing to produce mens fur coats. I bought my mink coat at Afrodite furs. It is one of the many shops just outside Kastoria, they gave me a good price and were capable of making their own coats, prices vary across the shops a lot and can differ more the 50% between the shops. Apart from the fur shops the area is not particularly special and it can be a long but nice drive to get there if your not staying nearby.  Payment is usually cash to avoid the taxes (22%) but paying by card is no problem but more expensive.

If you're going there I would recommend to stay in Paralia area and make a day trip to Kastoria, from here you can see a bit more of the interesting sites. Paralia also has a lot of stores but less workshops. In this way it is easier to relax on the beach while your items are manufactured 🙂.

Thanks for the information! I wonder how open they are to men trying on and buying womens fur coats. Guess there's a wide range of prices and they can cost as much as regular stores in other countries. Oof paying thousands in cash though nice tip about Paralia! Though they look pretty far apart. 

[gai]

10 hours ago, Norwegian lynx said:

I've visited lots of Greek fur stores, as I love going on holidays there. Both Crete, Rhodos and Zakynthos are littered with fur stores, big and small, and are cheap to travel to.

Oh great! All great experiences I assume. You recommend going to those 3 cities for furs?

[paul2809]

I've always have wanted to do some International travel to Greece, austria.. Ireland and others to go see different furriers.... I don't think that's gonna be possible right now with travel restrictions out of The United States...

[paul2809]

Germany is one country that id love to visit...

[Charfur]

Rhodos and Zakynthos are not just cities, they are the main cities on the corresponding islands (Crete is an island).  The Greek islands are awesome, although the fur is limited in Rhodos when I was there but I can also recommend Corfu. Crete is completely different story, dozens of fur stores on the island and many historical places to visit, since the island is rather large I recommend to visit either the East or the West of the island. It simply does not fit in one trip or take more then 1 week and stay at different places. Crete is really a great place and all Greek fur stores welcome you with open arms, I guess they want the business but it is also Greek hospitality. They will let you try anything, I used the female coats to explain what I wanted, just be honest with them and you can try every fur. They really have everything :) and you can take all the time you want or even give them a call and they will pick you up at your hotel to bring you to the store.

Price wise it is all good, the minimum wage is Greece is around 300 euro's. Labor is usually around 10 euro. A mink coat is in Western Europa around 5000-6000 euro's, this is due to 80-100 euro/h labor and a higher price for the skins. The Greeks buy them in vast quantities and a mink coat will go for 2000-3000 euro's including VAT, this is the 50% difference I mentioned and requires some bargain skills on your side but is also depending on existing prices from fur labels like Mexa.

[gai]

On 1/26/2021 at 4:52 AM, paul2809 said:

I've always have wanted to do some International travel to Greece, austria.. Ireland and others to go see different furriers.... I don't think that's gonna be possible right now with travel restrictions out of The United States...

That sounds fun, I want to do that also. Check out all the furriers around the world. Though it sounds like Greece has some of the best and the lowest prices, which is why I'm fascinated. And they have an actual fur convention. I wonder if there's many German furriers. Russia is also a country I want to visit. Seems like women wearing furs everywhere there. I'm sure there's tons of fur stores too. The vaccines are coming so eventually the pandemic will end and we can travel, which is why I'm hoping to do some traveling then. Now, traveling while Asian in the wake of COVID is another issue...

 

On 1/26/2021 at 9:05 AM, Charfur said:

Rhodos and Zakynthos are not just cities, they are the main cities on the corresponding islands (Crete is an island).  The Greek islands are awesome, although the fur is limited in Rhodos when I was there but I can also recommend Corfu. Crete is completely different story, dozens of fur stores on the island and many historical places to visit, since the island is rather large I recommend to visit either the East or the West of the island. It simply does not fit in one trip or take more then 1 week and stay at different places. Crete is really a great place and all Greek fur stores welcome you with open arms, I guess they want the business but it is also Greek hospitality. They will let you try anything, I used the female coats to explain what I wanted, just be honest with them and you can try every fur. They really have everything 🙂 and you can take all the time you want or even give them a call and they will pick you up at your hotel to bring you to the store.

Price wise it is all good, the minimum wage is Greece is around 300 euro's. Labor is usually around 10 euro. A mink coat is in Western Europa around 5000-6000 euro's, this is due to 80-100 euro/h labor and a higher price for the skins. The Greeks buy them in vast quantities and a mink coat will go for 2000-3000 euro's including VAT, this is the 50% difference I mentioned and requires some bargain skills on your side but is also depending on existing prices from fur labels like Mexa.

Thanks for the further information! I didn't know much about it. Definitely sounds like worth a full vacation. Glad to hear all the stores are so welcoming! Hopefully that still holds true. The service sounds top notch then. I admit, as someone who worked at a fur store, even I was thinking "if you're not gonna buy something, you're wasting my time" unless it was an attractive woman 😂 a 50% price difference sounds great indeed!