Following wave after wave of the pandemic over the past year or so, and with little to no government assistance or subsidy, many businesses which have been holding on, hoping for better days, are finally saying enough is enough, as there is no end in sight with a government which is failing on all fronts to address this national crisis.
Many vendors and business owners at One Nimman have told CityNews that sales have dropped to around 10% and that they no longer have savings to continue.
Nimmanhaemin, previously one of the most robust areas in the city, filled with restaurants, shops, bars and businesses, is quiet and shop houses shuttered with signs for sale or rent.
Whereas in the past many months, One Nimman still had a decent amount of foot traffic, the past two weeks have seen very few visitors, said one business owner.
Noppamas Kraithong, 29, a vendor at One Nimman’s weekly White Market said, “One Nimman was always one place which was still managing to survive because of its open aired shopping which reassured people, but recently even this is not happening. Now I am just trying to survive by selling online.”
Polwat Pongtui, 32, a fresh coconut and coffee vendor who plies his trade along Nimmanhaemin said that when he first selling his coconuts and coffee, he struggled to find a spot to park, but now he is struggling to find a customer.
“I used to make up to 5,000 baht per day, but now I am down to under 1,000 baht per day,” he said. “But what can I do? There is no where to go, no relief.”
Polwat told CityNews that many of his vendor friends aren’t even that lucky, “Some of them who sell clothes, or shoes, are now earning just a hundred or two hundred baht a day. They have to do online campaigns like Facebook live to try to get some interest and make enough money to feed themselves.”
“Sure, its stressful. But it has been so long now I have just decided to let it be. I refuse to get upset anymore; there is simply nothing I can do about any of this.”