The decrease in sales of gold due to the spike in prices along with rent contracts based on the price of gold have left jewelers located in the bazaar in a difficult position.
According to Mehmet Ali Yıldırımtürk, a money and gold markets expert with a jewelry shop in the bazaar, who spoke with Today’s Zaman on Monday, nearly all shops on the busier streets in the bazaar are faced with the problem of gold-based rent contracts, and many are thinking of closing their shops. Shop owners signed rent agreements in January 2008 when a kilogram of gold was TL 25,000, but since it has increased to TL 37,000, many are left without many options until their rent contracts are renewed in January 2010. However, there isn’t much hope that the situation will change or that it can change quickly enough to save them from closure. Yıldırımtürk also stated that on top of this rent problem, the jewelers’ business has decreased almost 75 percent because of the increase in prices, and the transaction volume of gold has dropped more than 50 percent. “There needs to be a middle ground to this issue. If these shop owners leave, then in this environment people will not be filling in the vacancies.”
Speaking to Today’s Zaman on Monday, Nedim Altay of Bircan Jewelry in the bazaar said the market was “horrible. Since the price of gold increased we can only buy gold, not sell it. Gold just isn’t selling.” The increasing price of gold has affected jewelers outside of the Grand Bazaar even more, according to Cevdet Balaban, owner of Balaban Kuyumculuk in Bağcılar. Balaban, who previously owned a shop in the bazaar, moved out six years ago. “I closed my shop and am following the spot market for gold on foot. By working on foot, I try to cover my daily costs with a few transactions.” This spot market for gold has about 30 salesmen who are all in bad shape due to this increase. He noted that in a week he used to sell 250 “quarters,” or 1.60 grams of gold, and now that number had fallen to 50.
