The Tribune

By FAY SIMMONS

Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

The Straw Businesspersons Society president yesterday asserted that low sales continue to plague vendors at Fort Charlotte because only a small fraction benefit from tour bus traffic.

Speaking to Tribune Business, Rebecca Small said vendors who were previously relocated from Fort Fincastle to Fort Charlotte to facilitate improvements to the water tower at the former destination have still not been allowed to return to their original site despite officials’ stating this would happen from December.

She added that vendors are struggling to make meaningful sales, with only a handful earning anything when tour buses arrive at the site which still houses displaced vendors in tents.

“I can clearly and emphatically state that the vendors on Fort Charlotte - based on what they’re telling me - if you have 40 vendors out there, maybe four of them make anything when tour buses come, and the rest are hardly making anything at all. It's devastating,” said Ms Small “It’s terrible for the vendors from Fort Fincastle.”

She added that downtown Nassau straw vendors continue to endure variable sales, with some days profitable and others not, but it is too soon to gauge how Royal Caribbean’s Paradise Island Beach Club, which opened late last month, will affect revenue.

“For the vendors downtown, there are days you make something and there are days you don’t. I can’t say the impact just yet;  I would need to go and reassess downtown,” said Ms Small.

The Antiquities, Monuments & Museums Corporation (AMMC) last year announced the near-completion of the $3m Fort Fincastle water tower restoration project with the handover expected during the first week of December.

The contract, awarded to SJK Construction in May 2024, included interior and exterior restoration work to address structural concerns at the long-inactive water tower. The renovation work, which began on March 15, was initially expected to be completed within four months but had been delayed due to construction interruptions.

Don Cornish, director of the National Museum of The Bahamas, said that while new vendor stalls had originally been planned as part of the redevelopment project they have not materialised due to factors beyond the AMMC’s control. He added that existing stalls would be refurbished so vendors could resume business in December

“While the new stalls did not come to fruition, we want the straw vendors to know that they have not been forgotten. We are now working feverishly to refurbish and upgrade the existing stalls so they are functional, safe and attractive. Our goal is simple: To get business flowing again on site without further interruption and as early as possible in December,” said Mr Cornish.

“We understand and deeply sympathise with the straw vendors whose livelihoods depend on this location. These upgrades are being done so that, going forward, the site can sustain higher volumes of visitors, better services and stronger economic opportunities for everyone who trades here.”

Tribune Business reached out to Mr Cornish for an update on the renovations and the expected return date for vendors, but was advised that he is out of office and will provide an update next week.