ArmeniaNow  -- When, last month, the popular Café de Paris was ordered to demolish its sidewalk café on Yerevan’s Abovyan Street, a clamor was raised over whether the order would also apply to other street-side businesses – specifically those just steps from the café.

The answer has come this week, as Yerevan Municipality continues the program of dismantling shops and kiosks in compliance with last year’s law prohibiting side-walk vending.

Currently most of the stores (including Garderobe and Bravo) are already emptied. Residents of Yerevan believe that in terms of keeping the streets in good order and maintaining the architectural image of the city the dismantling program is a very important step.

This is an ongoing program which has yet been initiated by former Mayor of Yerevan Karen Karapetyan. And soon after being elected in November 2011, Yerevan Mayor Taron Margaryan continued this work as he had promised at his first briefing.

“All kiosks will be removed from Abovyan Street and it will get its former image,” says Arthur Gevorgyan, head of the Yerevan Municipality’s Public Relations Department.

There were kiosks at Abovyan-Tumanyan and Abovyan-Sayat-Nova crossroads; their owners have dismantled their stores themselves being informed about the municipality’s program.

“Negotiations continue with all [shop] owners. Of course, they will be provided with compensation for moving to a territory of the same size of their kiosks in another place. However, I cannot state any concrete agreement achieved in this respect,” Gevorgyan says.

“The dismantling of these kiosks will make our city even nicer, and it will be pleasant for everybody to see green areas in their places,” says Arthur Amirkhanyan, Commercial Director of Mango women’s clothing store – one store in front of which kiosks had sprung up, in effect blocking the window-view of his business. “We have our clients and they have their clients; and I do not think that after their dismantling clients of Garderobe or Bizon shops will attend Mango. After all, these trademarks will not disappear from Armenia; they will simply be removed to another street.”

According to Gevorgyan, there are no exact deadlines when the dismantling of such places will be finished.