EASTERN MARKET
Vendors Ask, Where Is Everybody?
At Eastern Market, vendors Mohamed Elrafai and Eka Himawan play chess while they await customers.
(Photos By Carol Guzy -- The Washington Post)
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Sunday, June 3, 2007
Mohamed Elrafai was in his usual spot yesterday at Eastern Market, seated among the Asian and Tibetan furniture he sells every weekend.
All that was missing was a steady flow of customers, which was why Elrafai devoted a good portion of the day bent over a chessboard, playing himself.
"I can sit here, and no one asks me for anything," he said, looking up from the pawn he had just moved. "They don't even ask me for a price."
In the five weeks since fire tore through Eastern Market, District and civic leaders have taken pains to highlight how the government and community quickly rallied in response to the devastation.
Yet despite the publicity generated by the fire and each new announcement of progress, the market's vendors say that they are seeing far fewer customers and that their revenue has plummeted.
"God, it's slow," Louise Morgal, 82, groused to her son, David, 47, as they watched over the fruit and vegetable stand the family has operated at the market for 45 years.
The Morgals said they have endured difficult periods before, including the aftermath of the 1968 riots, when friends warned Louise that she was crazy to open for business.
But even that period was not as difficult as the past month, she said. "It's very depressing, losing business like this."
Sonda Tamarr Allen, a jeweler who has operated a stand for 16 years, said it was as though the market was forgotten once the shock over the fire faded.
"We got national news that we had a fire, but we didn't get national news that we're still open," she said.
The nadir, Allen said, was two Sundays ago, when she grossed $32. She said she normally makes $800 on a weekend day.
"I see a lot of empty arms, swinging," said Michael Berman, a painter who occupies the stall next to Allen's, as he searched for evidence of patrons making purchases.
