Ireland: Historic Moore Street traders victim of discount retailers
Last week alone various supermarkets had offers of eight apples, seven oranges, a six-pack of tomatoes or three mixed peppers, all at 59c. And a bunch of scallions, half a kilo of rhubarb and a half kilo pack of beetroot cost as little as 49c in one outlet.
For families, such discounts on fruit and veg are a godsend and make it remarkably cheap for mothers to make sure the family get the “five-a-day” recommended by nutritionists.
Moore Street on Tuesday and Wednesday last week was quiet and there were plenty of “gaps” among the pitches on the historic street, where the rebels of the Easter Rising made their last stand.
Spokeswoman for the Moore Street traders Margaret Buckley is convinced that the supermarkets are to blame and accuses them of selling “below cost”.
“We all know it’s a tactic. They get people in for bargain fruit and veg but then add Euro to the price of everything else,” she said.
She also worries where the next generation of Moore Street traders are going to come from.
“It’s a hard ’oul game this and now there is also an awful lot of regulation, insurance and tax clearance certs and the cost of the licence. We lost May the Queen of Moore Street (Mary Kavanagh) a while ago at the age of 92 and there is no woman like that in the next generation,” she said. "May was still selling at the age of 88. She was a fantastic woman.”
Further up the street, her cousin Catherine Kennedy is selling fresh fruit and veg.
“It is getting harder. At one stage there were 130 with licences to trade here. Now it is down to about 30. I still love it but it has to be bred into you. Some new people have tried it but they don’t take to it that well. It’s a tough life,” she added.
Source: independent.ie
