Even as the Millie Ifill Fish Market is open for business, vendors at the Weston, St James facility are raising fresh concerns about challenges, including declining customer traffic.
The $2.7 million renovated market, which reopened its doors on January 13 after an official opening last year, appears to be struggling to attract locals and tourists.
Recently, a Nation team visited the problem-plagued market, which had only two vendors actively operating and noticeably low foot traffic.
One of the most vocal vendors, Natalie Sobers, highlighted several ongoing issues plaguing the facility.
“This building ain’t making no revenue. I don’t see what the purpose of it is. They could’ve left the old building,” Sobers remarked, pointing to various challenges that continue to affect vendors and customers.
A significant concern was the accessibility of the market entrance, where groups of individuals reportedly congregate and obstruct access.
“You have to walk all down that end. All these people blocking the road. Bare weed smokers, bare liming is all they doing on a day. They block you by the entrance and you can’t get in,” she explained.
The market’s bathroom facilities have also become a point of contention. While separate facilities were built for male and female users, Sobers reported that the male bathrooms remain locked, leading to everyone using the female facilities.
“There are bathrooms for females and for males too but the ones for females are being used by the males too. This is total nonsense,” she said.
She said the set-up of the market did not allow for tourists to be on the inside and compared that to the other fish markets in Bridgetown and Oistins where tourists are welcome.
“If we don’t have tourists, we will sink. Look what happened in COVID,” Sobers added.
The locker situation, which was previously identified as a concern during the market’s opening, remains unresolved. Vendors are reportedly still required to use lockers in the temporary market facility because the new building was constructed without the essential feature.
Some local patrons gathered at nearby establishments, including John Moore’s bar, said they too had noticed a general decline in activity throughout the area.
One vendor suggested waiting another month to assess the customer traffic, noting that this time of year typically saw lower customer volumes. (DS)
