The double sided coin of the urban shopper and salesperson
The urban lifestyle of the 'shopaholic'
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| A shopper withdrawing money from an ATM |
The hectic
life of the city envelops everyone including the shopper. Life for a shopper in
the city is filled with excitement, hustle and satisfaction after having met
ones wants and needs. For bargain hunters coming to the city to shop, the fast
service represents the catalyst for shopping activities. The life of even the
shopper in the city is thus, facilitated though globalization. Globalization
has given rise to banks being established along key motorways so that busy
individuals can have quick access to banking facilities in the city. With
adequate money, urban life for the shopper is quite the opposite to that of the
average person with errands to run. The carefree shopper may actually enjoy the
fast-paced life, having to run to the fast service to withdraw money, then scurrying
from one shop to the next hoping to capitalize on the apparent bargains. In any
city, shopping is a definite activity taking place and is woven into the fabric
of the city.
For a more
informative depiction of shopping, feel free to view the video below of
shopping in the city of Hong Kong.
The urban lifestyle of the street vendor
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| Street vendor in Port-of-Spain |
On the other
side of the coin, entrepreneurs particularly street vendors in the city as seen in the picture above, also
experience fast-paced lives but from a different perspective. Their lives in
the city revolve around anticipating sales and attending to the needs of every
customer. Similar to the business person, time is also money for them, and at
times their receipts certainly do not reflect their effort. The hazards faced
are many since the majority of street vendors are illegally vending. As such, they are
forced to be always on the look out for police officers patrolling the city
streets. Those vending in front of established business places, oftentimes incur
the wrath of their competitors. According to newspaper articles, Illegal
vendors in Port-of-Spain especially on Frederick, Queen and Henry Street, are
constantly threatened with forced removal from officials (Clyne, 2014). This exacerbates
the rush of urban street vending.
References:
Clyne, Kalifa. (2014, April 2). Crackdown on illegal
vending. Trinidad Guardian. Retrieved April 1, 2014, from
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