TIRANA/ATHENS (Reuters) - Artur Metaj made his first drachmas in 1991 selling Bermuda shorts to U.S. soldiers stationed in the Greek capital, Athens. Greece offered Albanians like Metaj their first taste of capitalism after the collapse of four decades of Communist rule.

Metaj opened a hair salon, hired 14 people and was joined in Greece by an estimated 500,000 or more Albanians sending money home from Albania's southern neighbour in the form of remittances - long a staple of the Albanian economy. But after the Greek debt crisis broke in 2009, Metaj's generous tips started to dry up, and his regular clients asked for credit.