'Shrimpy' Bailey entrepreneur extraordinaire

Karen Sudu, Gleaner Writer

MANY OF Conral 'Shrimpy' Bailey's customers say he deserves an award, for long and dedicated service in the field of entrepreneurship.

Unfortunately, they are not in a position to award him, but the satisfaction he gets from selling them, might just suffice. Over the past 36 years, the 55-year-old son of Slipe in the breadbasket parish of St Elizabeth, has been operating his mobile shrimps shop from a straw basket.

Though he sells in Spanish Town and Linstead in St Catherine, he has not relocated from his hometown, but stays temporarily in the old capital.

"Mi come up from St Elizabeth like Monday morning and carry up like 50 pounds a shrimps, and me sell that between Linstead and Spanish Town. When me finish sell that, me go back to St Elizabeth and buy some more shrimps and come back up," Shrimpy explained to The Gleaner, while he takes some shrimps from his basket, which he packages in a small white plastic bag, to sell to Pamella Nairne, known as 'Auntie Pam', a customer for more than 20 years.

Great customer service

"His shrimps always eat good, salty, peppery, fresh everybody used to Shrimpy, and the price of his shrimps reasonable. I always support him cause is just his livelihood," she told The Gleaner.

He prepares his shrimps in Spanish Town and sells for two prices - $50 and $100 per bag.

After so many years of trading, Shrimpy can easily earn an 'A' for customer service, as he always wears what many of his patrons have grown to appreciate, an almost affixed smile, while armed with his basket and calling out, "Pepper shrimps! Pepper shrimps!"

He never completed his primary-school education, so he was never in a position to pursue a career in a traditional field. Hence, he did what most people in his community did.

"Our area now is just selling we live off, I don't have no other source, so me just buy the shrimps, come sell it. I am satisfied with what I get. I can eat a food and buy me clothes," he smiled.

The father of five children, the eldest being 26, told The Gleaner that all he has achieved has been through peddling his product.

"Mi set miself out a it, but no so great you know, cause mi nah go tell you say mi have big money outa it, but mi satisfy wid life," he said.

Shrimpy sells to persons desirous of buying, as he does his daily treks through the two major towns. However, over the years, he has built a strong client base.

"Sometimes a lady might say to her daughter, 'Shrimpy a sell me shrimps from mi a go a school yuh know' and the daughter might say, 'Then, mommy, how yuh look so old and Shrimpy still look so'," he chuckled.

Samantha has been a loyal customer for more than 12 years.

"I always buy his shrimps, cause it taste good - full a pepper and nice - and me love pepper and him clean. Mi like how him carry himself, him always clean," Samantha sounded like Shrimpy's marketing officer.

Another faithful customer, Veronica Graham, has been operating a fast-food restaurant on Fletcher's Avenue in Linstead, for the past 10 years.

"I have known Shrimpy from in the '80s when I was at Dinthill [Technical High School], I used to buy when I was coming from school, then I went to RADA (Rural Agricultural Development Authority) to work, I bought from him, because he always came there on a Friday and he would always give us brawta, so you know we waited till Shrimpy comes," Graham laughed.

But she was not enticed, only, by the brawta.

"The shrimps taste so good, and you get real fresh shrimps, not too peppery, you can tolerate it, cause I'm buying these two for my sister-in-law from New York who has been asking me for shrimps since she came, so I say let me get these for her," Graham paid for two $100 bags.

For Shrimpy, who is now closing in on four decades of plying his trade, "At my age, I don't see myself doing anything else, I am grateful for what I am doing. I can always depend on my customers," he smiled.