Falmouth craft vendor leans on bag juice and snacks as cruise market sales dry up

Annie Brown set out to earn her keep through craft work, but a long stretch of poor sales has pushed her into a side hustle she never planned on. From her stall inside the Falmouth Seaboard District Craft Market, she now leans on selling snacks and bag juice to keep money coming in.

"The thing slow, slow; so mi just walk up and down and sell some cheese-trix and bag juice. Nothing nah gwaan right now," she said, pointing out that her buying power is tight. "I still can't buy much. I have to buy one bag of cheese-trix and one bag of bag juice. Mi still don't leave the shop. Mi walk here in the market and sell. I get my support in here," she added.

Brown told the publication that she cannot remember the last time her craft brought in a dependable income. "Mi out here from early this morning (Wednesday) and mi nuh sell anything today, but there was no ship today. The Disney ship [is] to come next Wednesday," she said, adding that even when cruise vessels berth in the town, business barely moves.

She locked up her stall just after 3 p.m. that Wednesday — usually among the most active days in Falmouth. "Wi nuh make no sales because the driver dem gone with them (tourists), bring dem gone a the Chukka, Bluehole, Dunn's River and then bring them back straight over the pier," she said.

With the cruise pier sitting only a street away, Brown joins other vendors at the market in calling for stronger backing. "Them affi help wi get sales because nothing nah gwaan. Sometimes you have to bring lunch from your yard or walk with lunch money because nothing naa sell," she said, mentioning that she has a daughter to provide for.

In her view, the downturn comes from tourists keeping clear of Falmouth itself and from rival craft stalls right on the pier offering the same goods. "And they (tourists) don't come out because they feel the road is a danger to them. Some will take chance," she said as she shut up shop, tying off the cloth string she uses in place of a lock on her fabric walls.

A second craft vendor told The Weekend Star that traders working inside the Falmouth Pier are hurting as well. "Them a bawl same way, and a over deh so the guest them deh," she said, noting that she has spent close to forty years in the trade and used to earn her living hawking goods on the street.

The vendor said the cramped quarters of the craft market are not generating enough business to cover her monthly rent. "We have to think about the rent and that a kill we. The rent is $8,500 and mi use to go up a Royalton go sell, but since the breeze blow (hurricane), that mash up," she said.

"Mi nuh know wah happened to this market ya. We naa mek no money, not even when the ship come in. Only God deh a wi side when we sell a dollar ya so," she added.