KEEPING IT STRONG: Monica 'Dawn' Gordon...understands the value of custumer service in these hard times. - Lennox Aldred
Monica 'Dawn' Gordon, 35, originally from Clarendon, has been selling in the Coronation Market for about four years. She lived in Chudleigh in Manchester where she worked as a domestic helper, before taking the plunge into vending.
Her decision to take on vending was prompted by the advice of her sister, who told her that vending was a more lucrative business. It seems that her sister's advice has paid off.
"I prefer to sell in the market because I get a bit more income for me and my family," Monica told THE STAR.
She sells peppers, tomatoes, Irish potatoes, lime, bananas, pumpkin, sorrel, cucumbers and okras and other ground provisions, some of which she gets from her home town in Manchester where she grows her own food. However, she sometimes buys wholesale from other vendors at the Coronation Market.
Gordon said she goes to the market, from Monday to Saturday from as early as 6:00 a.m. It is not easy but least it offers some kind of vocation.
"Market life is rough, but it is better than doing nothing, it helps to send my children to school."
She has three girls, one of whom is attending Business College while the others are in primary school.
She also understands the value of custumer service in these hard times.
"I try to treat the customers the best way I can, so they would come back," she said.
She said she would like to see some-improvements in the market in terms of the infrastructure and facilities and also, for all the vendors to come together to get things organized and work towards having a clean and smooth running market. For example, the garbage collecting is done too rarely and infrequently, therefore the market is sometimes an unpleasant place to be.
Gordon also has aspirations to go on to better things.
"I will continue to sell in the market until I see a better way," she said.
Her immediate plans include migrating in the hope of landing a job, perhaps in a factory in the United States, but does not plan to leave her children behind.
