Thessaloniki’s Landmark Modiano Market Opens as Foodie Paradise

In the heart of Thessaloniki, a city landmark, the Modiano Market reopened its doors this week with some 75 shops, stalls and eateries offering food lovers the best Greek and international specialty products.

Considered to be one of Thessaloniki’s most important monuments, the former central food market housed has been restored and renovated by the Fais Group, which invested 10 million euros in the project set to create 300 new jobs.

The Modiano Market in Thessaloniki. Photo source: Gastronomos.

Eli Modiano, a prominent Sephardic Jewish engineer, constructed the Modiano Market in 1925. Starting this week, the Modiano Market aims to become a foodie paradise where visitors will find fresh and packaged products, Greek specialty foods, certified organic products, fair trade and traditional products from various countries around the world. Shops and stalls on the ground floor are divided into food categories while nine restaurants will also be operating in the food hall. The market will also be hosting gastronomy festivals and pop-ups in its arcade.

Earlier this year, TIME magazine singled out the Modiano Market as part of its “World’s Greatest Places for 2022” list.

Fais Group is aiming to attract some 4 million visitors in the first year of operations, one million of which tourists from abroad. Additionally, the ambitious project is set to establish Thessaloniki as a leading gastronomy destination, which is also a key priority for the northern port city’s tourism stakeholders.

Modiano Market. Photo source: Modiano Market.

Last year, Thessaloniki was included on UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network for its creative gastronomy scene. It is the only Greek city designated a UNESCO Creative City for Gastronomy.

This year, the Thessaloniki Tourism Organization (TTO) invited UK travelers to visit through a promotion campaign that ran in 41 stations of London’s underground. The city also participated in this year’s two-day National Geographic Traveller Food Festival.

Founded in 1978, Fais Group is the country’s largest retail group behind the first shopping center in Greece, the “Attica” mall in Athens, and the first Designer Outlet Mall in Thessaloniki. The group has recently become active in hospitality and gastronomy.