From our joking Trader – “A farmer goes to the Royal Show and bumps into a chicken. They strike up a conversation and the farmer asks what the chicken is doing there. The chicken says “I’m a judge.” “What, in poultry?” says the farmer. “Yes, of course in poultry. I’m considered an eggspert.”
It was early Saturday morning and a Trader was seen in the car park leaning against his car. He was asked if he needed any help. “No”, he replied. “I’ve just checked inside the market and the huge number of vacancies has me wondering if it is worth setting up.” He did and it wasn’t. And no, that is not a joke.
One of our Traders attended the Boomers/USA basketball match on Thursday night and says the media has gone haywire with their criticism. He found the game an absolute hit with great quality basketball, great entertainment and a very worthwhile event.
A Trader is asking where all the tourists have gone. The tourism stats in last week’s Trader’s Bulletin confirmed that interstate visitation was down but apart from what she described as “$5 T-shirt buyers” there appears to be a remarkable absence of overseas tourists. Maybe that is because our hotels are full of basketball fans this weekend?
Back in 1981, Billy Field released a very successful song in Australia called “You Weren’t In Love With Me” which contained the lyrics “Blind Freddy knew that, a blind man could see, I was in love with you, but you weren't in love with me.” On Saturday morning Traders in L Shed were treated to a singalong of that song by crooners Guru Pete and Michael Mallon, and maybe, just maybe, a cover is in the offering.
A Trader said that Friday was one of those days when the longest discussion he had with a customer involved directions to the nearest ATM.
A member of staff has suggested that every Trader could be given a handbell to ring after each sale. It would certainly create some theatre and buzz around the market. We know of a chain of restaurants that gets customers to ring a bell as they leave, so the idea has been around.
A Trader has suggested that a pop-up basketball gear stall may have been a good idea over the weekend to take advantage of all the fans in Melbourne for the big Boomers v USA match.
A Trader asks when our new trading hours will come into operation and the answer is that a date will be advised as soon as discussions with individual leaseholders are completed which is expected to take a couple of weeks.
The wife of one of our many husband/wife teams at QVM was asked if she was going to give hubby a day off for Father’s Day next Sunday. Her response left little room for doubt - “Fat chance”.
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