Fruits and vegetables vendors getting good COVID sales
Many persons are flocking Coronation Market in downtown Kingston, stocking up on essentials – fruits and vegetables. Stalls are being left bare as customers strive for a strong immune system, and vendors have no complaints.
“They mostly asking for fruits like oranges, pineapple and grapes. Those are going faster than everything else. Everybody is saying that they want to build their immune systems, so they want to be strong so the corona cannot pick them” Kerryann, a market vendor, told THE WEEKEND STAR.
The demand has been so strong that Kerryann said she run out of supply on Wednesday – a day when the market sees less traffic.
“Now, I run out of orange. I have grapes and banana left … I try to have that (banana) because that is now in high demand more than the orange. If people don’t get orange, they can substitute it for even melon or something else, so I try to have banana and grapes,” she said.
Kerryann says she has not increased her prices because of the COVID-19 driven demand.
“I don’t know for somebody else, but I know for myself,” she said.
Meanwhile, a vendor who goes by ‘Dimples,’ has seen a similar trend in customer purchases.
“People buying a lot of fruits, vegetable and ground provisions. Dem nuh really waah ketch the virus so I think most people right now is overprotective,” she said.
“Most people eating vegetable … . They don’t want no form of meat.”
As of recent, Dimples says customers have visited her stall asking for rich ingredients for soup and porridge.
“I sell a mixture of everything … lettuce, pak choi, scallion, you name it. People eating up the lettuce! People eating up callaloo! But overall, the pak choi is in demand. Right now, I don’t have any more lettuce or pak choi,” she added.
“People also buying a lot of coconut. Instead of the coconut powder, they want the coconut itself.”