Bobby Chand lost about $2000 when the Suva-Nausori lockdown was announced last Friday.
The Suva Municipal Market vendor said he, like many others, stocked up on produce, expecting the usual busy Saturday market rush.
“Friday was a normal day, a bit slow in the morning but it picked up later,” he said.
“About 5.30pm, the market master announced that we had 20 minutes to vacate the market.
“We had just enough time to cover the stall and get out.
“I spent about $1000 but the loss of income was over $2000.
“This is a cash business and when something like this happens, we have to fork out of the little we actually make to buy more vegetables to sell.
“When we lose money, it takes a while to recover the funds.”
He said market vendors should have been notified earlier so they wouldn’t have spent so much money preparing for Saturday only to lose that money.
