De rise of the roadside bourgeoisie

May 15, 2026 Dem Boys Seh, Features / Columnists, News

Dem Boys Seh….

(Kaieteur News) – Dem boys seh one-time roadside vending used to mean a lil old lady under umbrella selling plantain chip and sour tamarind to mek a honest dollar. Is used to be one man wid a tray selling mints and a few packets of snack foods. Back then, when people hear “vendor”, dem picture hardship and de persons wah selling deh pun de margins of poverty.

But lawd, times change fast in Guyana.

Now some of these roadside vendors got more assets than small business people paying rent, tax, NIS and GPL bill. Dem boys seh vending done graduate from hustle to full-scale enterprise management.

How yuh gon tell me yuh “struggling” when yuh mobile vending operation got more equipment than a small restaurant? One man pull up wid a canter truck that gat more goods than some of dem small shops in villages. Some of dem canters side panels open up, LED light come on, generator humming, speaker playing music, and before yuh blink dem selling phone case, fried chicken, car perfume and even clothes and groceries. Is a mobile supermarket and boutique in one.

And don’t talk about dem fancy food caravans. Some of these things got grill, stove, deep fryer, freezer and enough stainless steel to open a hospital theatre. Dem boys seh some ah dem mobile kitchens looking so modern that if yuh blink yuh might accidentally apply fuh mortgage instead ah buy barbecue.

Then yuh got de traffic-light economy. Young boys selling steering-wheel cover and windshield wipers and sun guards. But leh nobody fool yuh. Plenty ah dem ain’t independent hustlers. Dem got one big supplier wah providing de merchandise. It’s franchise system without paperwork.

And some pavement vendors got stock value that would make lawful shop owners cry into dem VAT return. One pavement vendors tek up three building lots with the amount of stock she got selling on the pavement. Boxes pile high like warehouse inventory. Generator running. Employees working shifts. Yet somehow dem still calling demself “small struggling vendor.”

Dem boys seh Guyana got a new social class now: de pavement bourgeoisie.

Meanwhile de legitimate businessman paying rent, licence, security, taxes and inspection watching somebody occupy public pavement free ah cost and selling same thing cheaper because rules apparently only for fools.

Nobody saying poor people mustn’t hustle. Honest hustling is survival. But leh we stop pretending every illegal vendor is desperate and barefoot. Plenty ah dem operating profitable middle-class business disguised as hardship. And some of dem feel they can simply pick anywhere to set up shop.

Talk half. Leff half.

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Dem Boys Seh, hardship, poverty, roadside bourgeoisie, small business

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