Reid at her attractive stall in the Christiana Market. - Michael SloleyCYNTHIA who sells in the Christiana Market in Manchester feels no one should pass by her without patronising her foods.
After all, they are so attractively arranged. Green bananas, fresh from the fields are neatly stacked in one section. So, too, are the other fruits like pears and oranges. Likewise are the peppers and escallion.
Cynthia feels it pays to have an attractive stall. "People, especially women, like to know that their market basket is pretty so when they pass by they usually select the best foods to buy and so your stall has to be pretty," she said with a smile.
She looked at a customer who was passing and commented.
"What you buying here today, pears, rice, bananas, plantains...?"
The customer looked at Cynthia and smiled. "Everything you have look so good today if a only have money I would buy almost everything," she said.
Cynthia has been vending at the Christiana Market for the past 10 years. She mainly sells on Fridays and Saturdays because these are the days when most people shop. She said she started higglering when she was nine years old while she was attending Christiana Moravian Primary School. And, it was her mother, Lillian Smith, who gave her the first opportunity. "I would walk around the market selling scandal bags. I wanted to be a higgler because I loved the way higglers are independent," she explains.
Cynthia recalled her best moments as those when she had plenty breadfruit and mangoes selling.
"Customers love my mangoes 'cause they were usually juicy and my breadfruits are really the bellyfull types. A lot of people would come by and spend a lot of money here because they know that my goods are always of the best quality."
Cynthia has eight children. The money she makes is used to provide them with food and clothing and to pay her bills.
She would like to see a number of improvements to the market, including repairs of the roof.
"Whenever rain falls is pure water come in on us because we have no form of drainage system," she said.
