Deteriorating buildings, improper selling spaces and crime are some of the common issues outlined in complaints voiced by vendors at Metcalfe and Port Maria markets in St Mary.

The Jamaica Observer visited the parish markets on a Thursday, which is a day vendors said is usually slow. These problems, the vendors say, have driven away customers, fellow vendors and resulted in the loss of sales.

A walk through Metcalfe Market in Annotto Bay revealed scores of unattended stalls, leaking roofs and a dilapidated building badly in need of repairs. The Metcalfe Market was built in 1896 as a way of improving the lives of the many people living in the area. In 2017 when the Observer visited the market the vendors called on authorities to enforce merchandising rules to restore order at the facility. The vendors who spoke with the Observer recently said there has been no change.

The only vendor seen inside was 62-year-old Calvin Fairweather. According to Fairweather, who has been selling at the market for less than a year, there needs to be an upgrade of the market’s infrastructure, which he said has deteriorated over time. He pointed out that this has driven other vendors to sell on the street.

“This market usually flourish and you would find more people, especially on Fridays and Saturdays. The place just run down,” he said.

Another vendor, 58-year-old Seran Carter, was seen on the outside of the market. She linked the scarcity of vendors at the market to the persistent epidemic of violence in Annotto Bay. She stressed that both vendors and buyers would migrate to other areas in the parish.

“Is basically like two of us here. I sell inside on Fridays because that is the main market day but sometimes when we outside people will see us, so we can get more sales.

“A lot of vendors stray from the market and some buyers stray too; some go to Port Maria Market. Annotto Bay get a lick with the violence. A just few a we stay back same way and gwaan do wi business,” Carter said.

Meanwhile at the Port Maria Market, vendors said they were pleased with the state of the facility but complained that they were barely making sales. The market was built at a cost of $56 million to accommodate all vendors, including those who were selling unlawfully on the streets of the town.

“Everything alright in here [but] it is just slow” said one vendor, Tasheka Beckford Hinds.

Beckford Hinds said that if the section for selling meat was in operation, there would be more buyers. A 53-year-old vendor who gave his name as Dada agreed.

“It alright. Me love the market; you have to be comfortable where you selling. The meat shop will make it better,” Dada said.

But another vendor, who identified herself as Miss Reddie, complained that the market is too far from the town and as a result it impedes sales.

Responding to the complaints from the vendors at Metcalfe Market, mayor of Port Maria Richard Creary said, “Minister Desmond McKenzie (minister of local government and community development) visited the other day and we are in the process of doing some estimates based on some areas in the market — that would include fencing.”

Regarding the appeal for an area for selling meat in the Port Maria Market, Creary said that his team is awaiting funding to purchase concrete tables and other necessities before transferring the butchers to the new section of the market.