By Vanessa Braithwaite
CHALLENGING was the adjective most used to describe the life of someone who spends their entire day in the Linden Market soliciting patronage from passers-by. When I visited the Linden market, in which vendors sell a variety of things, I was greatly moved by the way the vendors would literally beg passers-by to support their businesses.
“Aunty, please for a sale nah?” “Hello, don’t pass straight; come buy something from meh nah?” were some of the colloquial terms used by the vendors to any person traversing the market. Some vendors even held on to the hands of passers-by. To these vendors, every passer-by is a prospective customer, and they must not let the chance for a sale go by.
This market business is not about sitting on your laurels and enjoying the happenings of the day, or probably gossipping about persons passing by. It is about “hustling” to bring in adequate sales, as so much depends on it.
A variety of vendors ply their trade in the Linden Market Square. Clothing, though, is the most sought- after item. Sitting with a few vendors, I was able to discern how rough their day can be. Each shared similar challenges and joy.
The day of a clothes vendor begins very early, as efforts must be made to try capturing some customers on their way to work. Ronnel Mingo, a clothes vendor for the past 15 years, revealed that the lack of job opportunities in Linden has caused her to get into the business of selling.
“After my father died, I had to do something to assist my mom and my smaller siblings who were still in school. I first tried selling at home, as my father had left a shop, even though it was not active; but I decided to come on the market to increase my customer base,” Ronnel mentioned.
Her day on the market starts at approximately 7am, when she and her co-worker are tasked with setting up the double-stall, as everything is carried in at the end of the day.
After hanging out all of the clothes and other things that the business sells, she engages in cleaning the surroundings to make it attractive to prospective customers. Even as she does these things, she solicits customers as they pass.

Business slow
“Most of the year business is slow, and so being out here you have to really get patience to cope,” Ronnel said. For the most part of the day, Ronnel would sit on a little stool, soliciting purchases from passers-by. Her array of items includes clothing for children, teenagers, women, and men. She also sells home decor items, toys for children, and female accessories. She supplements those items with some plantain chips and coconut biscuits.
“I would normally travel to Georgetown once per week to purchase items, and I would try my best to sell them back reasonably, making maximum 50 per cent profit,” Ronnel disclosed. She said that some days the market is so hard that she sells only one or two items.
“The biggest challenge in being a market vendor is that you hardly have time for your family. You have to work six days per week, and those days would carry 11-12 hours,” Ronnel explained.
Surprisingly, the slowest day is Saturday, as most people concentrate on shopping groceries. The busy season would be during the Town Week Celebration, the August holiday and in December. “Even during the Town Week, we would be shortchanged, because a lot of vendors would come up from Georgetown and take away our business,” she affirmed.
Ronnel said she is already a seasoned market vendor, and would continue to live on whatever it offers. “At least I am living, and [am] able to help my family,” she concluded.
Another market vendor, who sells adjacent to Ronnel, said her major challenge is the competition that faces her. This is causing her to sell at a minimal mark-up, which decreases her profit percentage. Sharon, a single mother of five minor children, has no other source of income. She has been selling on the market for about three years now, and even though she enjoys her job, she hopes that it would get better.
“I like to work with myself, so I decided to come and sell on the market; and I try to make do with whatever it brings,” posited Sharon.
She said the Mayor and Town Council should invest more in the stalls, as they would experience leakage problems and the clothes would get wet whenever it rains.
Isola Amsterdam, a 72-year-old vendor who has been selling on the market for about 15 years, says that some days business is up, while most days it brings great sorrow — to spend an entire day and receive no or very little sales.
“Being on the market is like doing a seasonal job. You have to wait on the August holidays, Christmas and April to get an increase in sales,” she said.
Isola is of the opinion that if jobs are created in Linden and persons invest in the town, there would be more money circulating in the town for persons to spend. She, like the other vendors, affirmed that despite these various challenges, they will stick to selling in the Linden market.