Charlotte Street, Port of Spain vendors say while they have no problems with the time allotted to them to sell their goods during the festive season, they are getting few customers with one week before Christmas.
Vendor Sharon Daniel told the Express yesterday: “We have no problems with the time they have given us. Our big days were normally Thursdays and Fridays. Then on weekends. But we can sell until Christmas Day. Who knows? It might go later on.”
The vendors have been allowed to sell on the street from yesterday until December 24 in the first instance.
Daniel added: “But sales are slow. We are hoping it would pick about two days before Christmas. People are just buying what they need. They want a pound of potatoes or a head of garlic. They are not buying large amounts of food. Everybody is watching their money.”
She said while the price of ginger had dropped, from around $80 to about $35 a lb, tomatoes had increased to about $22 a lb retail.
Bananas ($5 a lb) and sorrel (3 lbs for $20) were hot sellers.
Her son Christian Daniel also said sales were “slow compared to previous years.”
“We try to offer deals to customers. You can get about two lbs of an item for $20. It’s done in the supermarkets. You get three packs of nuts for about $13. So we have to find our marketing strategies, too,” he pointed out.
Food prices
Wholesale
a box of big apples $450.
small apples $380.
a box of grapes $440.
a box of seedless grapes $500.
Retail
plantains 3 lbs for $20
ginger $25/$30 per lb
sorrel 3 lbs for $20/$25
chive 4 for $10.
tomatoes $22 per lb