Offices and shops for rent in Djerba Midoun

In Midoun, trade follows the rhythm of the hotels. The town centre, with its souk and its streets of craft, pottery and clothing shops, fills with tourists from May to October, then goes back to its residents and its weekly market. The tourist zone, from Sidi Mahrez to Aghir, lines the road with small shopping arcades, bazaars, scooter rental outlets and restaurants, some of which close in winter. Renting a shop in Midoun therefore means first choosing between a seasonal business and one that lives all year round.

Listings of offices and shops to rent in the delegation are few on Houni, often a handful, and are usually posted by the owners themselves: in Djerba, premises are let through acquaintances before they are let through listings. The reader contacts the advertiser directly. To widen the search to Houmt Souk, Zarzis and Medenine town, all the offices and shops to rent in the Medenine governorate are grouped on one page.

Central Midoun: year-round shops and key money

The shopping streets around the souk and the central square are the most sought after. You find 20 to 60 m² shops with a window, run by craftsmen, jewellers, fabric and souvenir sellers, as well as the everyday businesses Midoun residents live on: food, phones, a pharmacy, a café. A well-placed unit almost never comes free without key money, the sum paid to the outgoing tenant to take over the location and the customers, which can amount to several years' rent. Online listings rarely mention it: ask about it on the first call.

The rent for a town-centre shop is negotiated by the year, with a review often requested after the season. Expect a few hundred dinars a month for a small unit off the main streets, considerably more on the roads tourists walk along, with no fixed scale: each street has its price and each owner remembers what the neighbour used to pay.

The tourist zone: short season, high rents

Between the hotels of Sidi Mahrez and Aghir, the premises to rent are arcade shops, bazaar pitches, units for a car hire or excursion agency, sometimes an equipped restaurant. The customers are entirely tourists and the lease follows the season: many owners let from March to October, with a seasonal rent paid in advance, and take the unit back in winter. A trader who wants to settle for the long term has to negotiate a written yearly lease, even if it means paying for the dead months, so as not to lose the location and the fittings he has paid for.

Good years push landlords' demands up; lean years leave shutters down until June. Visit in winter to see what stays open: it is the best indicator of an arcade's real vitality.

Offices, depots and business premises

The office in the classic sense is rare in Midoun: professionals, medical practices, lawyers, accountants, set up on upper floors of buildings in the centre, along the road to Houmt Souk and near the clinic, and these properties sometimes appear in listings as "apartment for office use". Estate and travel agencies, numerous on the island, occupy glass-fronted ground floors in the town centre or the tourist zone.

Depots and small warehouses, for hotel suppliers, wholesalers and craftsmen, are mostly on the edge of town and on the roads to Arkou and El May, in sheds or private garages. Truck access and ceiling height are the two questions to ask before making the trip.

What to put in the lease

Commercial premises are let with a written contract registered at the tax office, stating the authorised use, the term, the rent and its review, the security deposit and who pays for which works. Check that the unit really is zoned for commercial use under the municipality's development plan and that the owner has the right to let it alone, a sensitive point for properties in undivided ownership, common on the island. Count water and electricity separately: in Djerba, a business that uses water pays dearly. If the activity means housing seasonal staff, the apartments and studios to rent in Djerba Midoun give the budget to plan alongside. And for anyone thinking of buying rather than renting on the island, the property for sale in Djerba Midoun gives an idea of building prices.