Fully outfitted! Monthly rent for new market booths starts at $300
Vendors interested in conducting business at the newly renovated market square in Road Town can now apply to rent kiosks (vending booths) at the location for a few hundred dollars per month.
Sixteen kiosks were constructed for use. Ten are 12×12 feet in size, while the remaining six kiosks are 10×10 feet large.
The kiosks are outfitted with a sink and faucet, lighting, a duplex outlet and a countertop for vending purposes. The facilities are also equipped with a sink for sanitary purposes, as well as lighting and power supply to facilitate vendor operations, even during the night-time. And according the Works Minister Kye Rymer, solar lights were also installed “to provide sufficient lighting for the square and reduce the overall electricity consumption charges”.
Minister Rymer also said the new market square has been outfitted with sufficient drainage and bathroom facilities. A total of eight stalls have been constructed — five are located on the female side, with one being handicap accessible while the male side has three stalls — inclusive of urinals — with one being handicap accessible.
“Also, each side (male and female) has a baby changing station and a concrete trough sink for hand-washing,” Rymer said in a recent announcement to the House of Assembly. “Special attention has been given to ensure that the building is resilient and secure with concrete divider walls and shutters at the closure of the entrances.”
“Although not installed yet, each kiosk will have shutters to enclose the kiosks to protect against vandalism and provide adequate security,” Rymer added.
The minister invited interested persons to apply for one of these 16 kiosks. And in preparation for opening the facility, Rymer said government has offered “first rights of refusal” to the original vendors of the old Market Square that were temporarily displaced during construction.
“We are currently offering the 10×10 kiosks at a rate of $300 and the 12×12 kiosks at a rate of $450 monthly,” the minister said.
“As this market square is in our territory’s capital, it is important that the Virgin Islands be represented in whole. As a result we have dedicated a kiosk specifically for our brothers and sisters from the outer islands to add to the creative product in our territory’s capital Market Square. So the kiosk will be available for persons coming from the sister islands to be able to have a space and would be able to offer their produce or their product in the Market Square,” Minister Rymer added.
The Market Square is scheduled to reopen on February 13 and will initially be managed and operated by the Wickham’s Cay Development Authority. But according to Rymer, the government “will shortly be inviting tenders for a management contract to oversee the Road Town Market Square”.
Applications can be collected from the Wickham’s Cay Development Office on Main Street.
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BVI we are great at installing bathrooms – but never at upkeep – are the funds being raised in rent going towards the upkeep of the bathrooms ? Otherwise they will become nasty like craftsalive / palm grove / eliz park ……
Is there a specific trade allowed in these stalls or can they be anything?
Where to apply?
I think it is quite obvious that it’s for the sale of fruits, vegetables and other market items. No, it is not for just anything, chupes!
Rascal….
Well it’s the farmer’s market so ome would think any business in there would entail food produce and livestock..!!!!
we all know these people will not pay just like the ones at craft alive
Hopefully those that rent will keep paying not like many of those at Craft Alive who have not paid rent for so long but are still allowed to occupy .
They will pay rent for the 1st 3 months
I do believe they were talking about the bathroom stalls. When I first read it my reaction was the same as yours, but then I put two and two together, and Eureka.
It’s the way the Reporter wrote the piece that made it seem as if it’s the stalls/kiosks he’s talking about.
But hey, my Eureka moment could be wrong.
Still very ghetto.
I think stalls refers to the toilet facilities not the cending stalls.
This does not do anything meaningful to advance local farming. The rent is prohibitive for a small scale farmer plus electricity and water rate. Soon they will require tax SS and NHI more slavery. A very good move on implementing Agenda 21. This arrangement is more suitable for importers who can bring in large quantities of produce and after supplying supermarkets and restaurants run a retail outlet I do not see this as a boost to local farming the rent is prohibitive. There should have been a space for local farmers who sell only one or two days a week. Everything in this country is screwed.
Whoever approve of this need a lick!! Who puts an open market so close to a busy road and in the middle of town. The smell and littering of rotting vegetables etc.
It”s the bathroom that is separated hun
parking
Those vendors gonna remaim where they are presently because they dont want to pay
It is so hard trying to get behind any government initiative when “major projects” are carried out and this is what the public is presented with. This bunch but this “minister” in particular love to show off his inexperience. A Puppeteer’s Fool.
I have to go find something constructive to do before I tell Rhymer and the rest bandits which part of them moth….. sigh.
read the article, you have confused vendor stalls and bathroom stalls!!
I am sorry to be a little disappeared, such a lot of time and money for wooden huts that dont look hurricane category 1 rated, a better place would have been the waterfront around the Gov Admin building and may have got a few bucks from the cruise ships
You are correct.
You are correct.
You know, this is what I hate about politics, The VIP had a decent design back then, and the NDP expanded on it. Hon. Mark came up with a better design, but the NDP fail to deliver. Still, that don’t give the VIP the rights to use our tax money and build that poor excuse for a market. What a waste of space. I will give them some credit for doing something than just talk about building it for another 15 years but do the right thing. We should of have a place for the bus to pull off. In the next 5 years we will have to go back to the drawing board..
Crafts Alive 2023 off to a great start!
The Bathroom stalls are what’s being separated by Male and Female me thinks. LOL!!
These kiosks are built similar to the ones at the Pier Park with a solid concrete base and massive steel plates attaching the main beams to the base. The same was said about he Kiosks at the pier park but they all withstood the wrath of Irma and Maria, all they lost were a few galvalume sheets. Stop being negative for negative sake, take a closer look at the project and you will see it’s properly built. I do not agree with that design for a market place but the structures are built strong.
1. Slavery – no.
2. You should contribute towards SS & NHI.
3. Form a co-operative with other farmers. Take turns to run the stall and save money by sharing the rent.
Sometimes I think these people want all on a plate and to be spoon fed.
This look like 50 years back, the first shower of rain and everyone would scatter while the occupant gets a shower. An updated traditional market would have been a 100% better,free flowing whether rain or sun. Stop wasting time and money while trying to fool the people. $300.00 for what? Come on now. Shame with this ghetto look.
WHEN WE WERE POOR THE MARKET STALLS WERE FREE NOW WE ARE RICH WE HAVE TO PAY TO USE THEM
That wannabe market , has a lot to be desired, road town is already congested a v3 story building ground floor (market)and the other 2 for government offices ) and you can drive around the building and you still have a little parking spaces inside the edge of the side walk that won’t obstruct coming in and going out
How embarrassed will we be when the stalls are not 1/2 filled, Crafts Alive is hurting and the bathrooms at the beaches are a joke!! Yup, the BVI is full of little secrets.
Where will the customers shelter in the event of a sudden downpour?
I think most of us can agree that Honourable Rymer is one of the hardest working Ministers in Government. He has achieved a lot across the territory over the last four years. No doubt about that. But this market place right here? Sigh. Even the temporary booths that are erected during festival times at the festival grounds could give this market place a run for its money. We could have done better than this. Much better than this. We are going to have flooding issues. We are going to have maintenance issues. We are going to have congestion issues. And mind you, I haven’t mentioned rent collection issues. All in all, if this project was a rushed job, we can justify the poor design layout quality of infrastructure. But we are to remember that this project was a long time coming, and THIS is what we get. Wow.
How about you simply getting with other small scale farmers and share a stall in order to reduce the cost of rent etc.
Houston- We have a problem… :-/
Hopefully some intuitive vendor will rent a market stall to sell and rent umbrellas for these 6 months of rainy weather.
Y’all to damm ungrateful, just a bunch of negative comments here. Hats of the government for their efforts. Now is to find the best way to utilize these kiosks. I think more than one person can certainly share, especially farmers who get along well.
$100 a month at craft alive. $350 and up for a hard working farmer. Going to have to sell lots of bananas!!
Where is Mark in all this?….How come Kye got more say than mark with this project?
Synergies a committee should have been more involved i your primary and secondary education ??????♂️
How can you have a market with no shelter from the elements. What a waste of money. Can we get a final cost for this sorry excuse. This design would have been more suited for the Cruise pier to sell trinkets and fruits to the tourist with the nearby buildings available for shelter in the event of rain. This is certainly not the design you want for your main food market.
The monthly revenue will be about $6000. Now we are going to give a management contract to manage and maintain the market. Very interesting.
1/ This is a bad location for a public anything, no parking…2/ Govt would have benefit more financially using this location for public metre parking, help with parking Issues in the city…3/ Where those learner drivers operate behind admin building there is a lot of space to put the Public market there without interrupting or interfering with the present learner driver operation. Go take a look and see the amt of space thats there, a public mkt could fit in easily and that would have been the perfect location out if the middle of the City..Little more patience, thought, and consultation and we would have gotten it right…
@ Roger Burnet
The stalls being referred to here are the bathrooms stalls.
Read the article again. KIOSK is the name for where the farmers would be selling their produce/products.
Are the spaces for Saturdays only or can you go sell your stuff any day of the week?
So question, when customers go to buy at the market place and rain comes down where will they shelter?? I think that’s a big problem. Another point,if I only have produce to sell once a week so I will only be there 4 times a month I think the rent will be a bit much.This market is a disaster. The people of the B.v.I get no TAX RETURN .You guys are killing people.This is so sad.
Why didn’t they build a building facility, everybody under one roof, sectioned off. Meats, veg and fruits, fish, etc. Other Caribbean islands have gone in that direction for markets and it’s working. These have no shelter from the weather.
Ggot to do better than that.keep them clean and tidy all ways.
For those who’ll be operating from there, you need to Pray that the almighty hold back the showers and piping hot sun while you’re operating.
Was the weather considered when designing these stall?