Effa Tambenkongho
25 February 2008
This phenomenon is very common in street corners in Douala.
In every corner of the streets in Douala, business persons have spread a mats by the road side selling female shoes. These shoes, which are very attractive and tempting are of various sizes, colours and shapes. Some of these business persons even do hawking from one office to the other. These hawkers end up selling their shoes at a cheaper price because after toiling from one office to the other with exorbitant prices, they end up not selling them after walking in vain. Towards the afternoon periods, they are forced to drop their prices.
People may think since most of the goods or shoes sold in provinces are bought in Douala, women in Douala are blessed to buy their shoes in shops, but this is not true. They rather buy from these hawkers which will be cheaper and durable.
In Bonanjo there is a particular spot that these shoes are sold in the morning. The amazing thing is that there are some women who stop there in the morning, buy a pair of shoes and put them on to work. Some women go there during break and change the pair of shoes they were wearing.
Talking to the trader, Anthony Ketctoua, he said nowadays one must be wise to be able to make ends meet. He said it was an initiative he decided to take and it is yielding fruits. So far he has not had anybody to reproach him for selling his shoes and business is not doing badly. On the choice of lady shoes, he said it is because it is cheaper to buy and has a huge market. "Women always buy shoes even when they complain they do not have money", he said. He added that men would hardly spend on shoes as women and besides it is more costly to buy men's shoes whosemarket is slow.
Talking to a customer, Marie Angel Ekossa, she said she buys from the road side becomes it comes right to her door post. She added that she does not have enough time to go to a "boutique" to buy shoes or to the market. Adding that the shoes sold at the streets are durable because some are second hand which are still very good and others are old stocks from shops in Europe. Besides, she said she gets her shoes at a cheaper price in the roadside market. While at the "boutique" the same shoes are sold at exorbitant prices.
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