Vendors along Broadway in Port-of-Spain yesterday complained bitterly about poor sales since Fantastic Friday.
Fried chicken, fries, fried fish and pelau were some of the foods still stacked high in glass cases around 4 pm.
Rhonda Sargeant, who said it was her first year selling, told the T&T Guardian that it made no sense for her to sell food because hardly anyone was buying. On Monday she made fish broth but said the sales were also poor.
“Sales not going good at all. We renting the spots and the bands passing somewhere else,” she complained.
Sargeant, from Belmont, said she felt better arrangements for the vendors should have been made by the Port-of-Spain City Corporation.
Her stall consisted mainly of preservatives and drinks.
Next to her was Sharon Daniels, who has been selling for over a decade. Daniels said she had put out close to $10,000 and was yet to see some profit.
“Look the day nearly done and I have not made much,” Daniels said.
She was selling BBQ, hot dog sandwiches, alcoholic drinks and snacks.
“Since Friday this place just dead,” she said.
The Curepe resident said since last year sales had plummeted.
Daniels said, “Sales slow, the place quiet and no masqueraders. It real bad.”
She spent close to $8,000 in stock and about $1,000 to acquire the spot, inclusive of a food badge and licence.
Not a patron was close to Frank James’ bar spot.
“Sales not good at all. It not supposed to be so. I lose out real bad,” James said.
He said while poor sales came as a surprise last year, this year was worse.
Another vendor, Malcom Worthington, of Laventille, chimed in with “nothing doing.”
He said while food was selling, drinks were not.
“It just really slow this year.”
Worthington has been selling for five years. He just shook his head and said, “Nobody passing so nobody buying.”