The fruit stand on the corner of Chippingham Road opposite Arawak Cay which burned down on Saturday evening. Owner Florence Miller also lost a number of items she had stored in a van. Photo: Terrel W. Carey/Tribune Staff
THE owner of Flo’s Fruit Stand on West Bay Street is trying to put the pieces of her business back together after a fire on Saturday destroyed her produce stall and stored items.
Despite the tragedy, Florence Miller, who has operated the popular fruit and vegetable stand near Arawak Cay for about 35 years, has returned to the site to sell her wares using two large umbrellas to shield her goods.
Ms Miller said the fire began after 9pm Saturday, a little over an hour after she left the area. She said police told her the incident may have been the result of arson which started from a nearby area and spread to her stall.
“I don’t really know what happened because I wasn’t here,” she told The Tribune.
“I had just left about eight o’clock and it was 9.30pm someone called me and said come now ‘cause my place on fire.”
The blaze also damaged a van where Ms Miller stored vegetables, fruits, herbs and other items.
Ms Miller told The Tribune she could not put a dollar value on the items lost.
Comments
ThisIsOurs 7 years, 4 months ago
Fruits are stored in the van overnight?
banker 7 years, 4 months ago
I used to buy a lot of stuff from her.
ThisIsOurs 7 years, 4 months ago
This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.
ThisIsOurs 7 years, 4 months ago
Hmm the comment was removed but it had no bad language, no libelous info, only referenced the dept of health... Strange
banker 7 years, 4 months ago
I used to wash all of the fruit in a javax/water solution. I admit that the flies were horrible -- and not helped by the bits of rotting fruit on the ground. Also the 5 gallon garbage pail of bad fruit had an interesting selection of insects that I had never seen before.
However it was the only place that I could get custard apples, soursops, guineps, breadfruit and dillies on a regular basis when they were in season. And the mangoes were the size of a small child's head. It was even better in terms of selection when she bought produce from the multitude of Haitian sloops that used to anchor in the harbour off Arawak Cay. I used to bring a mixed bag of her stuff to my Auntie in Montell Heights and she thought it was like Christmas with a cornucopia of good stuff.
ThisIsOurs 7 years, 4 months ago
Let's see if they remove your comment LOL
DDK 7 years, 4 months ago
Strange indeed. Many blind eyes are turned for many decades on various aspects of many enterprises.
Well_mudda_take_sic 7 years, 4 months ago
Florence (Flo) has probably caused umpteen vehicle accidents over the years by operating her business alongside one of the busiest roads on New Providence Island. Her customers often cannot pull up alongside her fruit stand without partially blocking continuing traffic in the west bound lane. After buying their fruit, customers must then get back into heavy traffic flow. It is difficult enough in that area for drivers to negotiate all of the truck traffic going onto and coming off of Arawak Cay. Of course there are also the health issues associated with selling fruit and other food from a location that is not subject to Department of Health inspections and oversight. Government should have long ago taken steps to move this so called fruit stand business into the same area where all of the Arawak Cay food vendor shacks are located selling their fish, conch, fried chicken, beer, etc. We are supposedly once again a country of laws where the rule of law applies equally to everyone, and Flo should be no exception.
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