We like to go to a shopping mall over the weekend and browse through the shops.
We’ll have a meal while there and we always buy something that we need at home.
Baywest Mall is far out of our way, but we preferred to go there, because of the vendors with stalls who drew us there.
A custard slice to start my day, then our favourite jewellery stall, with beautiful, cheap, stainless steel earrings for me — my wife loved the different coloured flower earrings — or maybe some homemade cookies, rusks or a nice cheap fragrance, or some clothing that interested my wife, or just anything that caught the eye.
Those vendors drew us there, and I think they drew even more people than what the centre management of Baywest Mall knew, and those feet also spent money in the shops.
But, sadly, they are not there any more.
I don’t know why, but I do know that some vendors were pensioners, making a bit of extra money to add to their monthly pension.
For some it was their only income, while some stalls were manned by students, making some money over weekends for themselves and their families.
Gqeberha, I feel, is in a way community orientated and not like Cape Town or Johannesburg, who are more money driven, and I feel really sad that the vendors were removed from Baywest Mall, and even sadder for all the vendors who lost their weekly/monthly income.
Peter Mackenzie