The Small Businessman It’s Rough going for Cobblers
THE shoemaking industry in Guyana is on the decline and several craftsmen in the business say they’ll soon have to find new ways of making a living if the quality and supply of materials do not improve in a hurry.
Many say they have been forced to resort to shoe repairs only, and even this poses a serious threat to their survival, as prices for the basics skyrocket each week.
Sam Whittaker and his nephew Keith Barnes are examples of this dilemma. They have been in the business for more than a decade Sam 17 years alone in the Stabroek Market.
Whittaker, Barnes and nearly a dozen others interviewed by Stabroek News in the last week, say the quality of leather sold by Guyana Stores Limited is too poor to be true.
“I am not condemning Guyana Stores. It is just that the leather has absolutely no moisture content and it is discoloured. We would like the authorities to do something about it “or else it is no business.”
All the craftsmen say that Delima’s Leather Store on Charlotte Street supplied a much superior quality of locally tanned leather than Guyana Stores, but that firm too, has apparently run into some operational problems.
This has left the industry at the crossroads at a time when a lucrative market in the Caribbean and North America is opening up for Guyana-made shoes, slippers and sandals.
“We have to do repairs alone now. The leather is so hard it breaks knives, bends nails and damages the fingers,” Whittaker and his nephew say. “We want the authorities to know that we need a little more moisture in the leather.”
The leather sells for $18.50 per pound. Nails prices have also jumped from $4 to $8 per ounce. Other prices too rough to cope with, the shoemakers say, include contact cement (pasting) which has moved from a 1987 figure of $18 to $35 and even $80 per half pint.
Many of the craftsmen say they would like to see GSL devise a better sales system that would allow for a more equitable distribution of materials.
Last year’s devaluation of the Guyana dollar has made locally-made shoes, slippers, sandals, cotton garments and other cottage industry products more competitive in the international market. The traders are the main exporting source, but they have also been complaining about the quality of leather products in recent months.