In Greece’s new economic order, Chanel is becoming more valuable than cash.

Banks in this Mediterranean nation have been shut down for more than a week and are just days away from running out of money. Many Greeks worry that at least some of their hard-earned deposits could vanish even under the best outcome of renewed negotiations between the country’s leaders and its creditors over a bailout package.

Even those who have hoarded cash fear that the value of the euro will plummet, or that a return to the drachma could leave them stranded with the wrong currency.

And so 48-year-old Sophia Marcoulakis is considering converting her cash into something more stable: a designer handbag....

Before the financial freeze, customers lined up at Nikias in the wealthy Kolonaki neighborhood of Athens to sell their jewels and Rolex watches in return for cash. But over the past week, the shop’s owner said he has had 20 to 30 calls interested in the opposite exchange.

The owner, who declined to give his name, said the callers wanted to buy gold coins and kilo bars — the most expensive items his store carries. But he no longer accepts electronic bank transfers because he is worried about a potential loss on deposits himself.

“Then we would be the ones to have the problem,” he said.

So his shop is stuck in a Catch-22: He will take only cash, but none of his customers can access enough to purchase his goods.

“Everyone is on hold,” he said.