Homeless Quarantine, No.3: “I never experienced Ramadan like this”
door We Sell Reality
All stalls back at the Albert Cuyp market
28 April 2021
For almost five months, visitors to the city’s markets had to miss them – the non-essential stalls with for example clothes. But from today they are back again. Since the start of the last lockdown only foodstuffs could be sold. ‘The disease is terrible, but in retrospect this measure was not necessary’, says one of the Albert Cuyp market vendors.
‘The first one since four and a half months!’, shouts the owner of a jewellery stall who has just sold something for the first time since months. Triumphantly showing a twenty euro note, he tells a customer: ‘You bring me luck, thank you, I am going to frame this.’ He has been selling during the last few months but only online, which he says is not comparable to wandering around the market and being able to hold things in your hands. ‘I really missed the contact with my customers.’
‘I think that people also prefer to receive personal advice and assistance instead of buying online’, says a saleswoman selling jewellery who did try to sell things online, but without much success. ‘Buying things online is nice of course, but not forever. There comes a time when you feel like chatting with people. That’s why I am not totally unpacked yet – because of all the gossiping with my colleagues.’
As the market is full with stalls again, keeping the 1.5 metre distance becomes difficult. ‘There are bound to be some initial problems, because people still want to keep their distance. We have created extra space by moving the stalls backwards. There is enough space for everyone now, and shopping in the open air is one of the safest things you can do.’
by AT5
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