The Fairchild Street Public Market vendors who were temporarily relocated to facilitate the redevelopment of the market will be moving into new stalls in the new year.
Chief executive officer of Haigh Communications Inc; Joy-Ann Haigh, who is the spokesperson for the Bridgetown Transformation Project, gave that assurance on Monday.
She told Barbados TODAY that while there were some delays the vendors would be back in the market next month.
“The vendors are going to be handed their keys in January and we apologise for the delays. During inspection, we realised there were some snags and we didn’t want there to be any further disruptions when the vendors moved in their kiosks,” she said.
Haigh was responding to complaints from the vendors about the length of time it was taking for them to move into their stalls.
The six who are currently operating under a large tent adjacent to Starcom Network on River Road complained that they were informed they would be handed their keys in October and when that did not materialise, they were then told they would get them the following month.
They said business was slow and they were losing out on potential extra sales during the holiday season.
“Sales haven’t been good; things dead. Out here is a dead hole and no money ain’t coming this side here,” said one of the vendors who did not want to be named.
Another vendor who has been in that field of work for over 30 years said sales were “basically non-existent”.
“We are upset for being out here for so long. We came from somewhere where we made a livelihood comfortably to somewhere where we have to be scrambling to make a dollar,” she said.
The sellers also complained about the unsanitary conditions of the portable toilets and the poor lighting in the area which raised security concerns.
President of the Fairchild Street Public Market Vendors Association Neressa Simmons said she was aware of the challenges the vendors were experiencing and hoped they could find alternative spots to set up and capitalise on the Christmas buying.
“They have been complaining to me about the slowness of up there because nobody is passing up there. They would have liked to be in [the new stalls] by December for Christmas and get their Christmas money that they used to get before,” Simmons said.
There are 38 kiosks in the market and 31 of them are occupied.
Simmons called on the relevant authorities to implement a solid maintenance programme for the market.
She said November 8 marked a year the market was upgraded and she was disappointed that there were already infrastructural issues.
“I find that for one year the area is not maintained properly and we need proper maintenance. Some of the tenants’ windows are broken and some of their latches want fixing. We want somebody to be here every two or three months to check the conditions of the stalls. For one year it has been ridiculous,” Simmons said.
“When you go around in other Caribbean countries you would not see anything like this. So to have this and to keep it going we need proper maintenance.”
Simmons said the vendors had been crying out for proper lighting for weeks and the public had to use the tenants’ bathroom facilities which were being vandalised.
She said those issues were recently addressed but there were other matters that needed attention.
Simmons indicated that during the day, business was extremely slow, picking up only after 4:30 p.m., because there was not adequate shade for customers to comfortably patronise the various businesses, especially the food and beverage kiosks.
She said there was a need for cover for the area.
However, Haigh said doing so was not a simple task as it may seem.
“We empathise with the vendors and we are looking into that. We will speak to the Urban Development Commission about the additional shade and consult with the project manager but it is a process and not as simple as putting up a tarpaulin,” she said.
As it relates to the infrastructural issues, Haigh said there was a communications protocol established to log complaints and concerns.
She said she was unaware of those issues and would speak to the management of the market to launch an investigation into the matter.
Meanwhile, Simmons said she was expecting busier evenings during the last lap of Christmas preparations.
She said weekends were usually lively but she expected even bigger crowds from Thursday.
Other vendors said they were also looking forward to the festivities.
Stacy Fraiser said she hoped things would pick up even better than last year which was “nice”.
Suki Roberts said his food was a hot seller and he had sold out every day for the past few weeks. He said customers loved his style of cooking and his reasonable prices.
sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb
