CHARLES KONG SOO
Hayden Jessop, a shoe vendor whose business Fresh Styles was destroyed in the November 23, 2018 fire at the People's Mall, on Henry Street, Port-of-Spain, wants the mall management to let him know when he will be provided with a suitable spot as he is forced to vend on the streets.
Speaking to the Sunday Guardian yesterday where he was selling shoes on the pavement at the corner of Queen and Henry streets, Jessop said “I'm taking it one step at a time, trying to put my life back together as well as try and reconstruct in a proper manner my shop. I have to ply my trade out here, it's challenging because vending is illegal on the street.
“It's a cat and mouse game with police and vendors, it's circumstances have me out here. Even if I get a spot, there was no rent structure before.”
He said the People's Mall Company Ltd (PMCL) was a registered company with more than 200 shareholders.
Jessop said the land was acquired in 1979 by the Dr Eric Williams-led Government, after a massive fire which destroyed some businesses, including Maraj Jewellers, Baksh Jewellers Ltd, and United Grocers. He said the land was then given to vendors, who later formed the Vendors' Association, to officially assist vendors in the Port-of-Spain area so that they could be off the streets and have somewhere to occupy.
Jessop said there were grandiose plans for an eight-storey building at the People's Mall after it was gutted by a devastating fire on April 9, 2005, but hadn't gotten off ground the ground due to a lack of financial backing.
He said in the interim was a makeshift car park with an unpaved dirt floor and some vendors on the perimeter of the mall who were long-time tenants.
The November 2018 fire the sixth fire at the mall. There were others in 2005, 2007, 2015, 2017 and one in June last year.
One of the directors at the People's Mall Association, Agnes Blackman did not return the Sunday Guardian's messages.
