Relocated Stabroek Market vendors complain of drop in sales

Jun 12, 2016 News

By Feona Morrison

June Collins is one of the many vendors who have been moved from the Stabroek Market Square to the temporary site at Lombard and Hadfield Streets, Georgetown.

June Collins sitting at her stall.

The woman has been selling herbs (corilla bush, pear leaf, zeb grass) for a number of years.
However, she said that since moving to the new location she has seen a major decline in sales. “For the morning I probably sell $200 in things. I had to go and trust something to eat. Me ain’t able to fatigue to go run out and sell,” she said on Thursday.
She was among the many vendors who vented their frustrations over the location, which she said, customers refuse to visit. While the vendors said they were grateful for the washroom facilities, lights, running water and security, they complained about the limited spaces. They also complained about the site being hot and flooding every time it rains.
It has been almost a month since the vendors were removed from their regular spot. Many of them had lost almost a week of sales as they awaited City Hall to prepare the new site.
But the removal has sparked protest actions and criticism of the municipal body.
Linda Pompey, a fruit vendor, expressed that “business is slow”. She has been vending from

Fruit stalls in the new vending location.

Monday to Saturday for the past 35 years.
When asked to give her reason for the decrease in sales, she said, “I feel this place too far. That is why people aint coming. Many customers we had on the road say here too far from the Stabroek Market.”
She explained that some of her customers told her that they were not willing to come there just to buy fruits after shopping in Stabroek Market and having to carry loaded shopping bags.
Pompey said that the location is too enclosed which is preventing persons from seeing what she has to offer.
Another vendor, Verna Granville, said, “Nobody aint getting to see the fruits because of the barricades. We fed up complain. The Town Clerk said that street vending is illegal but if you get a trolley and push it and sell that is not illegal.”
She added that when vendors attempt to go out on the road with their mobile stalls they are harassed by City Constables who would arrest them and take them before the courts.

Despite slow sales Loraine Spencer continues to vend.

The City Council had asked the vendors to sign a contract to stay at the site for only three weeks. However, Granville stated that she has been hearing that the council is asking for a six-month extension of stay.
The 63-year-old woman cried, “We punishing here. I sell two pounds of bananas for the day.” These are perishables. This is not clothes wuh you could keep for three months.”
Granville added that she sees fruits as one of the country’s tourism attraction and is saddened by the council’s move to “hide them”.
She explained that on many occasions she would have to educate tourists on the various fruits she sells. She added that she would sometimes give samples of the fruits to these visitors. When asked if she would go out on the road to hustle, she said that she was too old to do that. She pointed out that she has suffered many losses since most of her goods are left to spoil.
Vending has been the livelihood for Loraine Spencer for the past 25 years. This is the only way she knows of earning an income to provide food for her children and to send them to school.
On Thursday, she was seated under a large multi-coloured umbrella. She had her footwear, tooth brushes and other haberdasheries neatly arranged on a table. It was around 14: 00 hrs and she had not made a sale for the day. But she was still optimistic that things would turn around.
“People ain’t able walk and come till behind here to look for me. Most people I see coming here is those coming to look for their relatives.”
She said that some of the other vendors would have to put their goods in a pram and push it on the road to sell something.
In the meantime, they are calling on the relevant authorities to review what they are deeming as “bad arrangements” which they say have been hindering them from earning an income.
They are also pleading with the President to pay a visit to the vending spot.

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News