An area fitted out with arcade video games in the City Mall, Nahr al-Mott. (Credit: L'OLJ)
The combination of late November sales — culminating on Black Friday weekend — and the cease-fire that took effect on the morning of Nov. 27 encouraged some Lebanese to return to their former social lives, shopping at stores and dining out in restaurants.In areas ravaged by Israeli strikes, such as southern Lebanon, much of the Bekaa Valley, and the southern suburbs of Beirut, residents were burying their dead — about 4,000 killed over 14 months — and tending to their wounds before any sense of normalcy could return. In contrast, the atmosphere in the shops and malls of the capital and its surrounding suburbs, the country’s most densely populated regions, was noticeably different."It’s the first day we’ve been able to catch our breath since Thursday," said a salesperson at a home goods store in City Mall, in Nahr al-Mott, speaking...
The combination of late November sales — culminating on Black Friday weekend — and the cease-fire that took effect on the morning of Nov. 27 encouraged some Lebanese to return to their former social lives, shopping at stores and dining out in restaurants.In areas ravaged by Israeli strikes, such as southern Lebanon, much of the Bekaa Valley, and the southern suburbs of Beirut, residents were burying their dead — about 4,000 killed over 14 months — and tending to their wounds before any sense of normalcy could return. In contrast, the atmosphere in the shops and malls of the capital and its surrounding suburbs, the country’s most densely populated regions, was noticeably different."It’s the first day we’ve been able to catch our breath since Thursday," said a salesperson at a home goods store in City Mall, in Nahr al-Mott,...