Sunday 20 August 2017

Heard Under The Sheds – 20/8/2017



Watch What You Say – apparently police were called to the market during the week after someone threatened to “shoot someone.” The person venting turned out to be a trader who was unhappy with some aspect of QVM operations but the listener didn’t know that and took the threat seriously. In these troubled global times it pays to watch your language.

Invoicing Dilemma – a trader has complained that one side effect of the new digital invoicing system is that we no longer have immediate feedback of account discrepancies. A cashier used to be able to confirm whether your payment agreed with the system immediately, but now we don’t find out until weeks later when memory of the event has faded.

New Proposal For Underground – apparently the renewal team is considering a variation to construction under A,B,C, and D sheds that will allow ongoing trading at the Queen St. end of those sheds. The aim is to create a viable retail environment linking with the temporary pavilion and keep disruption to a minimum.

Pavilion Opportunity For GM – we understand that as part of the new trading proposal on Queen St. there may be opportunities for General Merchandise Traders in the temporary pavilion. Traders who are interested in pavilion trading will be invited to submit an Expression of Interest. We assume that opportunities will only be available to 5 day traders and we hear that participants may be asked to embrace extended trading. More details at Thursday's Trader Information Session.

Where Are The Football Fans? – a number of traders are complaining that with only one interstate team playing in Melbourne this weekend (Brisbane) we are suffering unusually small crowds.

Trader Strike – a trader proposed this week that traders should strike for no change at our market. When questioned, he did agree that change was necessary, but still felt a strike was a good idea.

Forget The Past –a gem from one of our more pragmatic traders – “Don’t tell me what used to happen here, because we are in a time of extreme change, and last year has no relevance to today.”

Ex City Councillor Stephen Mayne went to Monday night’s alternative renewal proposal meeting and published some photos which helped resolve a dispute over how many attended. The photos show around 150 attendees including approximately 50 traders.  The group made a presentation to City Council the following evening and apparently the Lord Mayor’s response was “Thank you for your passion and work. We are set on a particular track and I wouldn’t want to give you hope that we will deviate from 5 years of very hard work”.

Trader Xenia (Sonia) has marked one year since her stroke with a promise to continue her recovery and become more physically active over the next 12 months.

A customer (and ex-trader) stated that walking through the Dairy Hall at 1:00pm on Saturday they experienced the smallest crowd they could remember and they wondered whether the Barcelona terrorist attack had an impact.

Bollards have been installed at the top of J Shed during trading hours. (see separate article)