Keeping the Jamaican vibe alive

Jamaicans are the ones keeping jerk 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 customers, Brown Man, as his customers call him, 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 restaurant district for tourists and locals.

“Ours is done at night, we started at 7:00 p.m. and continued until the whole street party 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 partygoers because tourist support is almost non-existent anymore. So right now we are confident that our ting is well seasoned and spicy to please our Jamaicans,” he revealed.

For this asshole vendor who has been catering to the appetites of local and international customers for the last five years, he has seen tourist support gradually wane over that period. This Brown Man calculated that “90 percent or more of the business now comes from locals, if we’re lucky the next 10 percent or less is what we get from tourists who may just walk or drive down the Hip Strip. Di ting It’s not how it used to be but our own helps us stay in business.”

Meanwhile, after 25 years of selling handicrafts along the Hip Strip in Montego Bay, Raymond Smith has never seen such a bleak outlook that now seems to define the area that lacks 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 saw and bought, all the stores along the strip were more unified, everyone looked at the each other,” he smiled. But that’s not the case these days, it’s every man for himself in the tourism business, he said.

Smith alluded to the fact that had it not been for the renowned Doctor’s Cave Beach and Aqua Sol theme park along the Hip Strip continuing to attract tourists, things could have been even worse “we probably wouldn’t even have any tourists around.” . now since these hotels are locked. Thank God there are few that are left open, ”he said. “The hip came off di Hip Strip, right now a regular foot,” he joked.