MONTEGO BAY, St James — For 30 years Nauita Wilson has been selling fruit and vegetables on the side of Felicity Road in Montego Bay. She has seen the weather destroy numerous tarpaulins in her attempts to keep the elements at bay. Now, after a $7.7-million investment under Spruce Up Jamaica, Wilson and seven other vendors at the spot have been provided with four colourful shops and officially given the nod to sell their wares there. The shops are theirs to pass down to their heirs.

“Mi feel boasy, mi feel good, mi feel blessed because the Member of Parliament (MP) [for St James Central, Heroy Clarke] look upon us and see our needs, [fighting] rain, breeze, storm. We are going to enjoy it,” she declared.

“Mi feel good, you know how much years mi deh ya; 30 odd years and he see it necessary that he can put us in this position. You know how much tarpaulins I tear up! We are blessed and I give God thanks,” Wilson added.

She said customers are loving the change, which took place last Friday.

“Them feel good! Pure enjoyment, pure love, pure good wishes we get so far,” the overjoyed vendor declared.

Wilson said she and the other vendors are now focused on keeping the area clean and welcoming for all who wish to stop and buy items including fruit, juices and soup.

As explained by the MP, a decision was taken to regularise the vendors after what began as an informal arrangement evolved into a hotspot for tourists.

“The tourism minister, each year, gives us a portion of funding that we are supposed to do some community tourism. In partnership with the St James Municipal Corporation, because the lands belong to the municipal corporation, the funding came from my coffers and so we got the inspiration to get it done,” Clarke told the Observer.

Work included construction of the shops and an area where vehicles can stop safely.

“They used to be right at the side of the road, and so when a vehicle stopped it would have blocked the traffic. What we did was [we] covered a section of the drain, put the shops on top of the drain and the area they would have had their stalls, we paved it off. So, it is a layby; you pull off all together so it doesn’t upset the traffic any at all,” said the MP.

“The total funding for the project came up to $7.7 million, we tried to make it as efficient as possible where the funds were concerned,” he added.

According to Clarke, the shops are now the vendors’ property.

“The shops don’t belong to me. The shop goes directly to the first owner so they can pass it down to their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. It is for them,” he declared.

However vendors are required to pay some fees.

“A stipend is going to be asked of them to be paid to the [St James] Municipal Corporation (SJMC) and that’s for maintenance,” said Clarke.

“They must honour the responsibility of paying the stipend because the property next door, which is Factories Corporation of Jamaica, that is the rest area that they are going to be using for now and you know the cleaning and water bills, and so, has to be taken into consideration,” he said.

As noted by Montego Bay Mayor Richard Vernon, the SJMC has assumed management and maintenance of the area “because it is a vending initiative and it therefore falls under the vending regulations”.

It has been a game-changer for fruit vendor Reuben Baker who has been selling on Felicity Road for 25 years.

“First, let me applaud the MP. He came and saw the situation and decided to uplift us and he is the one that decided to give us this upliftment,” a grateful Baker told the Observer.

“For that gesture we really applaud him,” he added.

Lindsay Gallimore, who has sold soup and porridge in the area for eight years, also had high marks for the improvements made.

“On the strip here it’s nice because you have place where people can park and don’t block up the place. Because when I was down there them use to quarrel on me that the vehicle them a block up the [Factories Corporation of Jamaica] gate when them stop to buy from me, and so,” he declared.

He is happy to be protected from the vagaries of the weather and is even thinking about expanding his product line.

“[I] feel comfortable and nice man because when I was out in the sun, sun a bun me; when rain a fall, me a flood out. But right ya now, it is a nice thing and I can get to do more things. When I was down there so, it was just pure soup I was selling but now I can get to do a little breakfast, and so forth, so it is a very nice thing,” he said.

The four shops at Felicity Road, built through the Spruce Up Jamaica initiative.

Reuben Baker and Nauita Wilson working out of their new shop at Felicity Road in Montego Bay. 

The four shops on Felicity Road have replaced ramshackle stalls.