Nothing nah do, business get worse under the coalition government.
Vendors occupying the plot of land at the corner of Hadfield and Lombard Streets, Georgetown have reservations about the pace of business at the new location, as opposed to plying their trade in the direct vicinity of the Stabroek Market.
When NewsNow visited the location last week, several fruit vendors stated that they cannot afford to send their children to school as a result of the losses being incurred. They highlighted that given their produce are all perishables, it cannot be kept for more than two-three days.
“We not like people that gon keep them things for three, four months; is fruits we selling. If I buy 20 pounds of banana today, if it ain’t sell out today, tomorrow, you got to throw away half. The place nice and everything but the business slow,” one vendor, who was previously selling next to the now closed Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) outlet on Water Street, said.
She added that, “I got children to send to school, I got bills to pay, I is a single parent, I can’t sit down in here and watch my things spoil, what gon happen to my children when they come from school.”
Some of the fruit vendors (located basically in the middle of the plot) have complained about the location since the structures to sell clothing is built in such a way that it blocks passersby from noticing them.
“Nothing nah do, if you sell a $1200 or something for the day, you sell. I couldn’t even send my children to school, one had to go today and rest can’t go,” another vendor stated.
One vendor selling phone accessories said he is not getting the number of sales he is accustomed to, however, “One and two persons are coming…like since I deh in here, I get two sale…that is $3000…you got to pay for cart, you got to pay cleaning fee and you got to take care of your family.”
Clothing vendors, however have not raised the same complaints noting that there are curious visitors to the area who usually buy items: “We getting sale man, curiosity bringing people now, for the first.”
They told NewsNow that their problem lies in the flooding of parts of the area and lack of sturdy structures to withstand the rains.
“When rain fall and nobody ain’t deh, water lodging, bringing in the whole tent crashing. We had to reinforce them,” a vendor said.
During a telephone interview following NewsNow’s visit to the location, M&CC Public Relations Officer, Debra Lewis promised that the M&CC will be addressing any instance of flooding when it rains.
She noted that the council is currently looking at a building to relocate the vendors after three months and therefore no permanent system will be put in place.