Crafts Alive vendors locked out over years-long rent arrears
About 15 vendors at Crafts Alive Village on Waterfront Drive, Road Town, were locked out of their shops on March 31 due to unpaid rent that had been accumulating for over a decade.
City Manager Janice Brathwaite-Edwards said the move came after repeated efforts to collect overdue fees failed.
“We have been coaxing our tenants at Crafts Alive to pay their outstanding debts,” she told ZBVI Radio. “In early February, we wrote to them, urging them to settle their balances or arrange a payment plan. Unfortunately, most ignored the request.”
With some vendors owing between $10,000 and $12,000, officials decided to lock out those with significant arrears to prompt action.
Years of unpaid rent
Crafts Alive vendors pay $250 per month in peak season and $150 per month in the off-season, totaling about $2,400 annually. However, Brathwaite-Edwards noted that small or inconsistent payments have failed to reduce large debts.
“You have a bill for thousands of dollars, and you make minimum payments—it’s not making a difference,” she explained.
Following the lockout, about half of the affected vendors visited the City Manager’s office on April 1 to discuss their payments, with more expected later.
“We have their invoices and statements ready, and we’ve asked them to bring their receipts, as some claim they owe less than recorded,” Brathwaite-Edwards stated.
Unused spaces could be reassigned
She also warned that vendors who haven’t used their stalls for years risk losing them permanently.
“If you haven’t used your space for five or six years, technically, it’s no longer assigned to you,” she said.
With the next tourist season approaching, Brathwaite-Edwards hinted at bringing in new vendors with fresh and innovative products.
“Hopefully, within the next couple of months, we will have some new vendors at Crafts Alive,” she added.
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How they were allowed to continue for years without paying rent
What do you think? Gov interference allowed them to remain open.
These vendors making real joke now.
ethical, moral and honesty bankruptcy, those people.
Why do they think they are entitled to free rent from Government I cannot comprehend? I wish I was fortunate enough to find a space paying the rent they are being asked to pay and they fail to pay and making excuses about traffic from the cruise pier not being directed. Who is responsible for that?
There are stores all over Town, and the people must pay their rent whether they see customers in an abundance or not.
I agree with putting their foot down. Having a commercial space in the heart of town for $2400 annually is more than a steal, so pay up or get out.
That being said, I think it’s time for the City Manager to hang it up, she clearly isn’t able anymore. Get a young person to revamp the entire city management responsibilities and move the place forward.
You have no clue what the City Manager does, neither are you familiar with the situation. It’s the politicians that keep giving people these breaks and then you all blame the City Manager. Ask Kye Rymer why he keeps giving the City Manager so much push back when she tries to do her job. He is trying to micro-manage her. His arrogance is unsurpassed.
I agree with the poster. The City Manager needs to go. This has nothing to do with Crafts Alive. I know the person in the post and they have done their time, it’s time to leave.
Too many people in the BVI believe that you don’t have to pay rent, NHI, SS, etc. and can just ignore valid demands. It’s about time Government got tough with all businesses who fail to pay what the law requires.
Jan has tried to make City Management Office sustainable but has no assistance from the parent ministry. Vendors go and complain to the minister and the city manager receives a phone call to tell her to leave the owing tenants alone.
Politics is what has allowed this cancer to permeate throughout the country. Jan has tried
Well then she should resign. Why stay there looking st**id and getting nothing meaningful done? Why doesn’t she come to the public with her issues? It seems persons just get comfortable with the paycheck and say f**k it. I don’t understand?
As a public officer, the city manager cannot publicly speak out against political interference she has encountered without consequences (unless perhaps she is asked a question in a forum where she is free to respond that she was instructed not to lock them out); there is policy governing this area. The truth is the ministers should not be able to do so. If I am not mistaken, the decision to lock them out lies with the permanent secretary.
I am totally against government ministers having final authority over public service functions (I do not care which party takes office).
I agree with them
They are not paying probably because they feel entitled. On the other hand I believe that most of the vendors are not from Tortola. To be clear I don’t mean that they have mo right to make a living far from it. But are people who migrated here favoured over indigenous people? Its over 25 years that I contacted Janice Braithwaite about renting a space and up until right now my request has not came to fruition. A man has no honour in his country. Those vendors most of whom I believe are not from here but given the priviledge to retain space in the middle of the capital and allowed to operate for years without paying $250 pm rent. My mother, my father, my maternal grand mothers, maternal grand fathers and myself were born and bred right here in Tortola, and I did not qualify to get a space in the Village. BRAVO!!!! I want to make this statement and I don’t feel good about it but ‘We indgenious Virgin Islanders are swallowed up by the people who migrated here, and are very much invisible in our own country”.
It is indeed true that indigenous BVIslanders are being swallowed up by those who migrated here and their offsprings who have obtained rights through being born in the BVI. The government has the power to amend our constitution and enact laws to change this and to distinguish and protect the rights of indigenous BVIslanders. Yet they sit back and do nothing!
It is truly hurtful and shameful to hear of this news. What is even more hurtful is why can’t the City Manager and Ministry over this area see that craft is no longer on a wide scale as in times past? People even tourists are no longer interested in such. Why not use these areas for creative businesses and small young entrepreneurs to rise up and give tourists a real reason to patronize that area? It is so disheartening to hear the City Manager telling young entrepreneurs that they are only now dealing with their waitlisted tenants from 2012 and saying that they are only seeking tenants who are doing craft or that of craft. Now, really do you think people from 2012 still waiting on you for a space? For all we know, some of those individuals probably deceased or moved away from the BVI. When you take a walk through there, you can see people there selling and operating businesses that is NOT OF CRAFT! Well saw. At the end of the day, it all boils down to who you know and who know you….hmmmmm….. Every day you can see or hear small businesses closing down and these are locals at that but it seems the Government is unbothered about that too. If locals cant operate a business in their own country then what?????☹️☹️ hmmmmmm
The economic zone in the 5th district is next. Pay rent to government? NEVER!
Finally. Send all the defaulter back where they came from.
Looks you tek ova this news site now ¿ almost all the BLOGGINGS came from you , with under some new names for 2025 /
you obsessed ❓️ with all your theatrics myoy should be Hollywood where you can really express your hidden Talents that we ain’t know all about yet , so we can all see how you gained the name the “the esteemed one ” – or two
honorable esteem one