Merriman Mall celebrates 13 years of formal establishment

Jul 11, 2010 News

By Gary Eleazar

Take a walk through Merriman Mall and you will realise that it has come a long way from the days of makeshift stalls where hucksters plied their trade.

Over the years, these hucksters endured numerous challenges but today they are stallholders who consider themselves entrepreneurs. They vend just about everything. They also produce the tantalising aromas of the different foods that are cooked on the spot.

But all is not well with the vendors there and as such, a few of them decided that they would use the opportunity of the establishment’s 13th anniversary to highlight the ever famous Merriman Mall.

We have been here 13 years shout members of the planning committee

One vendor, Colin Henry, who has been there from the beginning and is a member of the organising committee, said that while there has been drastic improvement more needs to be done. The administration responsible for the area needs to do less talking and more action, he said.

He said that through the anniversary they would help to further establish the Mall which he did opine was already a house hold name.

Henry lamented the fact that they have been pleading with the officials to step up the security and clean the place on a more regular basis.

He did however praise what he has been able to achieve. “Quite a lot of my achievement in life is as a result of the Mall.”

He said that the vendors who are there are like one big, happy family and they try to be innovative and creative in promoting their businesses.

The stall holder also pleaded that there be greater support from the council to have the place be a little more uniformed and upgraded, pointing out that apart from the Mall having the potential to being a spot tourists would like to traverse they would like the place upgraded so they can better serve their consumers.

“We would like to see more support from city council even if they give us just the moral support.”

Another stallholder and one of the persons on the committee that helped to organise yesterday’s activity said that at present business is not doing to well.

Sandra Richmond told this newspaper that this anniversary was one of the driving factors behind the drive to sensitise consumers about the fact that there is the Merriman Mall where a great deal of products and services can be sourced.

There are some 160 stalls there but on any given day there are only about 50 per cent opened. Some never opened since the establishment of the Mall in 1997. She suggested that some of these stalls should be repossessed and placed in the hands of persons that actually want to utilise them.

One stallholder who converted her spot into a beauty parlour and has been there from the inception said things have certainly changed for the better. Business was slow in the beginning, she said.

She said that she was confident in the location and this confidence has paid off for her through persistence.

Carla Correia is another stallholder who has placed her faith in the Merriman Mall.

Speaking with this newspaper she said that her love for cooking caused her to establish her business there and she has been there for the past four years.

“Sometimes it good, sometimes it slow…but you got to try still.”

Desrey Corbin who is referred to as the “First Lady” because she has been there from the beginning using makeshift stall, said that the Mall has come a long way since its inception.

She stressed, however, that there is a need for the officials to support them more and instead of sitting in their offices, reach out on the ground and interact more with the stallholders so that they could better be able to come up with ways to better the Mall.

To give an idea of just how diverse the stalls at the Merriman Mall are, Ras Camo operates an arts and craft booth inclusive of a musical band.

Ras Camo said that he has been there from the inception. He said that his business is unique in that he caters to a certain clientele. “This is not like if is food.”

“The Mall is indeed good…the Mall is blessed,” according to another stallholder, Simone Hinds, who credits that location and her business for making her who she is today.

She said that it is a prime location for her business. When she first started at the Mall there was just one other that dealt with hair care, she said.

Calling the Mall her second home for the past nine years is Dionne Hercules who said that she was unsure about the location at first and started with a hair supply store and then went full fledged into cosmetology.

Things are challenging at times but I try to make it work.

Jacqueline Kit who also operates her business out of the Merriman’s Mall from the beginning said that there is a marked difference in the Mall from the day it was first established and the strong have endured, hence the reason to decide to observe the 13th anniversary.

She said that she would want to see the Mall develop more, “we need to make it a one stop shop.”

Kit added that it is 13 years they have been there and some people don’t even know what is available in the Mall so “we decided to let people know about the services and products available through this anniversary observance.”