Jamaicans are keeping idiot vendors like Victor ‘Brown Man’ Grigg’s afloat along the Hip Strip in Montego Bay in the absence of visitors, who are few in number since the closure of several resorts along of the area.
Busy preparing his chicken and festivals for his late-night patrons, the Brown Man, as he is called by his patrons, took the opportunity to explain how he has had to muster the support of Jamaicans to remain financially viable during this period.
The ‘Hip Strip’ is the name given to the quarter-mile road on Gloucester Avenue in Montego Bay, Jamaica, which is a shopping and dining district for tourists and locals alike.
“Ours is done at night, we started at 7:00 p.m. and continued until the street parties ended in the morning, but now we start at 10:00 p.m. so as not to compete with some restaurants. We as idiot vendors now cater to our own local partiers because tourist support is almost non-existent. So right now we are confident that our ting is well seasoned and spicy to please our Jamaicans,” he revealed.
For this jerk vendor who has been catering to the appetites of local and international customers for the past five years, he has seen tourist support gradually dwindle over that period. This Brown Man calculated that “90 percent or more of the business now comes from the locals, if we’re lucky the next 10 percent or less is what we get from tourists who can just walk or drive down the Hip Strip. Say ting It’s not how it used to be but our own helps keep us in business.”
Meanwhile, after 25 years of selling handicrafts along Montego Bay’s Hip Strip, Raymond Smith has never seen such a bleak picture that now seems to define the area lacking a vibrant atmosphere and few tourists.
“Back in the days when the hotels were open and the area was bustling, you didn’t even have to call a visitor to buy your stuff, they just looked and bought, all the stores along the strip were more unified, everyone was looking at the for each other,” he smiled. But it’s not like that these days, it’s every man for himself in the tourism business, he said.
Smith alluded to the fact that if it hadn’t been for the renowned Doctor’s Cave Beach and Aqua Sol theme park along the Hip Strip that continues to attract tourists, things might have been even worse “we probably wouldn’t even have any tourists around.” . now since these hotels lock up. Thank God there are few that remain open, ”he said. “Hip came off di Hip Strip, now a regular foot,” he joked.