Скачать или смотреть Woman keeps family's umbrella fixing business alive

(10 Nov 2016) FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4064887

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A woman in Belgrade is keeping her family's umbrella fixing business alive at a time when many small businesses are struggling.
Tatjana Zivkovic's shop used to make umbrella's too, but demand has been driven out by mass production.

STORY-LINE:
In a small shop in central Belgrade, Tatjana Zivkovic is surrounded by umbrellas.
They are everywhere: hanging in the shop window, from the shelves, up and down the walls.
They come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Some big, some small and of different colours, shapes and decoration.
Zivkovic fixes these umbrellas after they've been broken, either through strong winds or owners' negligence.
"This shop has existed for many years. We fix umbrellas, actually we make and fix umbrellas. We don't make umbrellas that much any more, we just fix them", explains Zivkovic.
The shop used to make many more umbrellas, but that part of the business has almost died out amid a rich variety of cheap offers throughout central Belgrade's shopping zone.
Expertly handling her tools, the 50-year-old twitches a wire here or a clip there, before reopening the umbrella to the delight of its owners.
"I think that a shop like this, where you can fix umbrellas, should exist because why should we throw away an umbrella just because of a broken wire, especially if that umbrella is expensive. Somebody can step on an umbrella or it can be blown away by the wind like it happened to me. This is why I think that many more shops like this should exist," says local resident Nada Petkovic.
Zivkovic's business is a family tradition. Her mother opened it in the 1960s, during a different era when things were fixed rather than immediately replaced.
The shop is a rare example of some of the dying crafts in the Serbian capital, which was once flooded by similar thriving small business until mass production took over.
"I remembered this shop many years ago", says local resident Mirjana Mitrovic. "Of course we used to buy and buy umbrellas. Now times are different and by memory I found this shop again. I prayed to God I could find this shop again. I was very happy (when I found the shop) and I said 'I am glad I found you, I am glad you exist'",
Nowadays, despite widespread consumer fever and an abundance of options, many people still opt to have their favourite umbrella fixed rather than tossed away.
Zivkovic makes their wish come true.


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