Vendors miffed over rates and requirements for market kiosks
This article has been updated.
Some vendors have reportedly expressed complaints about the affordability of kiosks (vending booths) at the new Road Town Market Square which is expected to be officially opened early next week.
City Manager Janice Braithwaite-Edwards confirmed recently that so far, some 17 applications have been received ahead of the opening, but suggested that persons are having challenges with fulfilling the requirements for renting the kiosks.
Some of the requirements for securing kiosks include having a credit reference and banking references, an executive summary of a business plan, a clean police record with no pending convictions for felonies, a valid trade license, and current status in the territory.
Nothing is free
The City Manager also attempted to ease some concerns raised and clarified that prospective vendors require a bank reference to secure the kiosks and not a bank statement as part of the criteria. Brathwaite-Edwards said persons will have to meet the necessary requirements ahead of taking up the kiosks at the market square.
“We need to be assured that at the end of the day, the people who actually take these kiosks can afford it to pay for them,” the City Manager said while speaking on ZBVI Radio recently.
Speaking more on the kiosks which comes with a monthly rental cost of $300 and $450, respectively, she added: “So we have people, yes. They are complaining that some of the things are high, but at the end of the day, you have to remember, nothing in this life is free.”
The City Manager noted that while locals and Belongers will be given preference in the selection process for the kiosks, no one will be refused if they do not meet this particular criterion.
Over half a million owed at Crafts Alive
In the meantime, BVI News understands that some of the prudence being adopted by officials at this stage stems from the cautionary tale that is the Crafts Alive Village in Road Town.
Our news centre has been reliably informed that the Wickham’s Cay Development Authority is owed somewhere in the region of $500,000 in outstanding rental fees by tenants of the Crafts Alive Village. These rental fees have reportedly been accumulated over a period exceeding a decade.
According to sources, some tenants have paid little to nothing of the $200 monthly rental fees required at that facility and have now been refused access to the buildings.
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Da mek sense??????
These people ridiculous! They want the stalls for free? If you can’t pay 450 a month then you should not be in business PERIODT! My taxpayer money shouldn’t go down the drain so these vendors could operate rent free and then turn around and start squatting! Keep the scrutiny on all applicants, and take a 3 month deposit! So if they don’t pay their rent they have 3 months to get out and somebody else take their space! They too worthless!
mark-it fiasco
PEOPLE CANT AFFORD THE HOMES IN JOE’S HILL NOR THESE KIOSKS BY THE MARKET….THIS GOVERNMENT FOKUS
“Miffed”! This is serious now. If we are not careful this could escalate to “peeved” or even “ expressing their chagrin”.
Something MUST be done!
Keep it up, that way we ensure that the place is properly kept. Persons that may have a workable business idea but lack the finances should seek partnerships with someone who would be willing to sign on and give them that backing. Reality has finally caught up with the BVI, just because it’s GOVERNMENT that built it, doesn’t mean it’s free. If you are paying $300 and $400 per month for a space in the heart of town, inclusive of utilities how can you complain about that? It will cost to upkeep that place and if you have viable business plan those small amounts in rent won’t matter.
WHO IS D4 REP, MARK OR KYE?
Half a billion or half a million?
Presumably these people who can’t pay for the booths are the same people who received the grants … but don’t have any money.
A market should be a place where anyone who has local produce to sell can go and sell their stuff. Why on earth did we allow this government to dismantle the original market. All they had to do was replace the roofing, scrub it up and some needed rehabilitation. The foundation was good, the steel bars were good. But no, for the sake of spending money where it was not needed, we go and build this mess and then rent. Who rents a market place. Walk in the market places of all of our islands where farming is popular, St. Kitts, Dominica, St. Lucia, Grenada etc, people go when they want and sell what they have and then they leave. But no, not the BVI, we have to always go against the grain to be stupid different
Good god the amount of money owed from Crafts Alive and for over a decade????
How on earth was this allowed to happen??
Utter nonsense can’t pay rent take the building back only in the BVI .
Why arent the kiosks joined so that customers can shelter in the even of a heavy rain? I am interested as to the design. Why not have the roof connected so that there is some sort of shade for patrons? Kind of weird how each stall is covered.
kick them out, why the units have to remain closed and can’t get kick out due to political favors.
How do you know that the vendors in the mentioned countries do not pay a fee to occupy the spaces. Only in BVI everybody looking for freebies. If you cannot afford to pay 300 a month for rent, then you should not be doing business in the heart of Road Town.
Precisely!! Even if they charge each user $25-$75 deposit or some small clean up fee, so that we keep the place looking good all the time. We have no clue in this place. Market should be encouraged not discouraged. $300 from what!!
Even if free it would be a problem
1. How can the govt allow tenants to remain if they have not paid rent in a decade?
2. What kind of tenant, supposedly running a business, cannot afford to pay $ 450 in rent?
Why pay rent when it don’t seem to have no consequence to knocking up a tent on the side of the road.
Got pay to play. Always wantn something for nothn.
You can open a business in the heart of Road Town for $10 a day including utilities, upkeep of grounds etc. and that is a problem? $10 a f**king day? You have got to be kidding me! If a business cannot pay $10 a day in rent/utilities and make a profit then IT IS NOT A BUSINESS!
Keep the requirements in place!! The people are too bloody ridiculous and expect everything for free! Where else in the world do they think this is allowed? If these people cannot afford a small rent such as this and show evidence that they are financially stable to repay, then they need to go and look a 9-5 job and collect a sure salary! I am sure there are more than enough persons who are willing to pay the fee.
Let’s break it down..You literally have to make $10-$15 a day to cover the cost of the rent. That’s 1 pineapple and a mango!! You people must stop it!! Sickening!
In spite of the hateful and envious comments expressed here the fact remains that a market place should be for the use of the farmers and fisher folk and also cultural expressions. How on earth can it be limited to a handful of chosen persons. This will only further stifle local production. The design of this facility is a testament to the lack of vision of our so called leaders. Imagine a freed slave in 1834 enjoying more rights than we do in 2023. Is this what we are voting for. For those of you cheering on this tyranny picture being not able to make an independent living while we boast Democracy and Freedom. The truth is our freedom is being taken away but we are too dumb to see it. Soon and very soon we are going to wake up to realize that there is no way out while the earth blazes in fire. Sleepers awake time is running out.
So they are charging about $4k per year for rental of the stalls which cost between 5-10k to build. I would love a deal like that. Get you money back in 2 years.
in this case, the requirements and fees are completely fair. the new market took time and money to develop.
but we really don’t have no kind of field area/space out of sight where people could just set up for the day to sell their goods?. some of these people out here just selling produce from their garden or a lil fruit juice etc etc just let them pitch a tent and do wa they have to do.
yes everything in life can’t be free but come on man.
Asking for too much. This worst than the Bank when you going buy a house. These are simple poor vendors trying to hussle. These so call officials just now how to keep poor people poor…Poor people are the ones who will pay..
You all people like to much freebies …300.00 is a good price i think it should be 500.00 for ayo ungrateful a**. Nice marketing square and ayo dont want pay well leave it alone and stop complain
Why do you need a clean police record? Someone may have had a brush with the law and trying to turn himself around so why hinder them?
I really needed that laugh.
Well you pack your happy ash up and go to any of those countries. This is BVI! We don’t want anything like anywhere else. In the middle of the city we need to be able to hold vendors accountable for their specific booths. Keep it clean and tidy. Not haphazard and come and go as you please. Save that messy n nasty crap for them other countries. Not here! The old market outlived its purpose. It is time to have vision and put things in place that serve us now! We don’t want a bunch of fish scales and coconut shreddings and crockus bags laying around in the heart of the city. Sugar cane stalks and all that. Pay your rent of go elsewhere. It is crazy how people who contribute the least in taxes expect the most freedoms and handouts!
My thoughts also. Customers are all exposed to the elements. Even the vendors don’t have adequate roof coverage. That was immediate observation. Whose idea of a design is this.
Ridiculous. Absolute waste of space and resources.
To the person who says market use in other islands are free, that is not accurate info. Vendors do make a monthly or weekly monetary contribution. These people can’t expect to use these spaces for free. Come on.
I grew up in the country and coming into town foreday Saturday morming with my granny was an event for market day. Friday time she did her cassava bread, sugar cake, pepper mint candy, seeet potato pudding, boya and coconut bread. We the grandchildren had to pick the thyme, scallion and parsley and bunch them together and whatver teabush qe had in abundance. My grandmother (now pass on) use to be in town till early Saturday afternoon because she use to spend the day catching up with her friends who would come from all over Tortola and they pung melee. We uad mangos when they were in season, limes, whatever the ground had that was full and ready to pick is what she sold. Wheb everybody finish, they clean up their area where they set up and then go back until next Sarurday life spare. Them were the good old days. Mr Maduro had a butcher shop next door too. Everybody use to get along and no confusion like now. Them were the good ole days that ain’t coming back
Only complaint i have is about the roof sizes. Should their be sudden shower of rain doesn’t provide much in way of shelter. Otherwise the rental cost is pretty much fair once it’s use to upkeep the place. Their earnings in a day or two covers the cost.
That’s it. Everybody wants everything free in the BVI. Government is to blame for that. Watch and see who will end up in those kiosks. Election is on the horizon and some politicians are accustomed to pay for votes so this will become another payment method.
Why don’t you join the roofs so that customers can shelter from the sun and rain.
So government up the prison talking about rehabilitation but you have to have a clean a police record to rent a stall in the market from the government. What kind of executive business plan you talking about. To sell in the market? What is this really. A store or a market. You show me one of our college graduates who is involved in agriculture. Just check our agriculture department and see how any college grads works there. These so called managers today are living a pipers dream.
What with all the noise? If one cannot pay, then leave the space for one who can. Some folks just want to set up by Roadside in the heart of Town for free while making tax free income. Yes, there are those who are honestly trying to make a $ while keeping our central area presentable to All. But there are those who don’t give 2cents about the Area, thry just out for the US$ and how fast they can get it out of the Territory. Yet these are the ones making the most noise with their bullcrap.
What I took from this article? The caste disparity so brazenly displayed by even our press.
Locals and belongers
One is in either class, separate but equal? I think not.
Actually, the government paid $ 45k (about $60 k each today when factoringi in inflation) for each building at Crafts Alive when they built them about 15-20 years ago. It was in the papers/media at the time. The cost is about the same on a square foot basis for building a luxury home, only the vendor buildings was wood frames, no cisterm, toilet, or kitchen, or much in the way of foundation, the usual things that drive up costs.
One early morning you will look for t h e VI and it is gone…down in the turd hole with the rest I of the gimmee self destruct Caribbean Independent freeloaders.
And th e majority from up de u know where and while their children dominate the criminal outpouring ofthe VI free boarding jng at The Mah estys prison the VI education at bottom level as they carry guns and knives in school bags.
U leave those ( whatever ? ) and go to the supermarket , because they are going to have to jack up the prices of their vegetables to make ends eat, ( that is one thing that no blogger mentioned ,/ or thought babout ) and another one is , you can get the same fresh vegetables there , so there might be an issue there also , sales have to be good for them to make anything worthwhile after paying the rent / $100 .00 a month is not too bad , the government wants to make their money in hurry . ,but they have to have some consideration for the poor people who will be hustling to make an honest living
1.Have Two or three persons (WHO GET ALONG WELL), share a kiosks.
2. Have them pay the Government individually. $300/3 = $100, or $450/3 = $150 per person. This is reasonable. Therefore if they are not paying monthly, they have to leave. The others in the kiosks should not have to suffer for that person or persons. In addition, if the month did not do to well, this is still reasonable.
2b. In cases where one person may have a lot of produce, have them share with only one person. Therefore, they will be either $150 ($300/2), or $225 ($450/2).
3. Because the kiosks are so limited many person cant get one for himself/herself. therefore it should be strongly discouraged in my opinion. This will allow more persons to be at the market.
4. In cases where it is not practical to share, then let the person use the kiosks for $300 (if it is smaller in space), instead of the one that is $450 if it is larger.
5. In cases where persons don’t have another person to share a kiosks with but wants to be at the market, then he or she has to pay $300 for the kiosks (if it is smallar than the kiosks) for $450. If he or she is not comfortable with the payment, then they should be encouraged to wait until they get a suitable person to share the kiosks with.
There you have it, a practical solution that still generate the same amount of revenue.
Signed: Concerned Citizen
I think government should install apron on all the kios. Roll up ones. For rain and sunshine
Get a refund on these ugly stalls and pay the teachers!
Ideally these KIOSKS should be available for the sale of local produce persons who import produce on a larger scale with a larger profit margin should not be eligable. They should rent a space elsewhere and i dont mean under a permanent tent
When it rains where would the customer stand?
How will the vendore protect their produce from rain ?
. Is there a bathroom facility for the vendors ?
Where will they store their perishable produce ? Take back home and return each day ?
These were build without long term vision
One thing that I wish my BVI had was what I found while visiting Trinidad. Google “Chaguanas Market” and take a look at what they built for their vendors. Now we don’t need something that large or high but something similar to fit the land would have been fine while costing less to construct.
The charge to sell at that market in Trinidad is TT$5 per day which is less that USD$1. Even if we charged our farmers USD$5 per day which would work out to $150 a month give or take, we would easily make back the construction cost and then be in the green in a few years.
A market is an investment into our territory and our people but these corrupt politicians and officials seem to only want to milk the people to line their own pockets. Who goin’ rent out these little shacks they built for $450 a month? KFC? Diamonds International? Rum shop? They definitely were not built for farmers to afford…
– the usual disclaimer: my opinions of persons mentioned in my comment are just that, opinions.
We need to put the market somewhere else
As rich as Trinidad is with Oil and gas poverty crime,racism rates Supreme. The people running and begging to get to B VI.
The place is wealthy enough for their people to not work but they here complaining about our markets.
It is a failed Republic and so is their free market Square.