Latest update January 20th, 2025 4:00 AM
Truck vendors invading Linden
By Enid Joaquin
Stalls shut tight
Trucks vending any and everything have been rapidly taking over and are slowly but surely undermining the economic health of entrepreneurs across the mining town of Linden.
Some of these trucks come from as far as Corentyne, in the Berbice District and Parika on the Essequibo coast.
They have over the past decade or so, introduced housewives to the new culture of simply stepping out of their homes, and unto the roads, to purchase vegetables and other provisions for the family.
Most of these trucks have particular days in the week, when they would drive around in the various wards across town, hawking their goods.
The cries of: “Fish, fish, get ya banga, trout, plantain, cassava eddoes…” have become popular refrains that housewives listen out for on the stipulated days; for them, it’s hassle free shopping.
Sherry, a housewife living in Amelia’s Ward noted, “The trucks does really save you, because they coming almost to your gap, you ain’t got to fight up to go till down the road, for certain things, so I welcome them.”
Her words were echoed by several other women, who opined that vending trucks have taken some of the stress off shopping.
Negative impact
But while these trucks provide a welcome service for many, local vendors, who hawk the same items are feeling the squeeze.
“These trucks taking away we sales and it ain’t fair to us- they coming here and selling and then they taking all the money out of Linden. Most of them don’t spend a dime here, because you would find that they cook their own food and everything, so they ain’t giving back nothing”, a perturbed vendor said.
That sentiment is the general consensus among the vending population in Linden.
But while many are suffering from decreased sales, due to the ubiquitous trucks, those suffering the most are persons occupying stalls at the Wismar Market.
Gone is the ‘hustle and bustle’ at the Wismar Market. In fact, the atmosphere at this market seems a lot like a hospital ward after the visitors have left.
Most vendors complain about the poor sales, but can’t give up, because it is their sole means of earning a living. Less than a dozen of them occupy the front of the facility which is set aside for hawking ground provisions, vegetables and fruit.
There are more than two hundred stalls located in the market itself, but only about one tenth is currently occupied.
The others are shut tight. There is no need to question why; the answer is quite obvious, as on a stroll through the market on any given day, one is hardly likely to encounter more than a dozen shoppers.
“Many days you come out here, and you ain’t mek a sale, it really frustrating, but we can’t give up”, one vendor remarked. Some of their counterparts have however already done so, judging from the number of locked stalls.
Most of the traffic in the market is concentrated around the butcheries and beer gardens, but there is no activity in the area allotted for the vending of fish. Here the tables that were set up for that purpose lay gathering dust, with no semblance of fish anywhere. As a matter of fact, no fish has ever been sold there.
Car Park
A car park has been in the making in front of the Wismar market for a few years now.
It is yet to be completed, but stallholders are optimistic that with its completion, they would see more business.
“They should really work on completing this car park, because then more people would come to the market; even the people coming out or going into the interior would come and park here, and so we would do more business”, a stall owner opined.
The area designated was cleared more than once, and Bosai Minerals INC had filled, leveled and compacted it; but there has been no guarantee when it will be completed.
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