ROADSIDE businesses are resuming in Shenzhen. Many independent vendors who had to shut down their businesses due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic have come back to the street, Shenzhen Evening News reported.

Zhao Cong, an independent vendor from Chongqing, normally opens his barbecue stall on Wuhe Boulevard in Bantian Subdistrict, Longgang District, at 5 p.m. every day.

Zhao started his business at the end of last year. Before this, he and his wife worked at a factory in Guanlan.

Given that the salary they earned from the factory was not satisfactory, Zhao and his wife decided to buy a tricycle to start their own barbecue business.

“The barbecue business is not as stable as factory work. Sometimes, we can earn 1,000 yuan (US$140) a day. But sometimes, we only have orders of around 200 to 300 yuan,” said Zhao.

Although they pull out their stall at 5 p.m. every day, the couple has to prepare ingredients in the afternoon.

“I thought about opening a small barbecue shop. But I finally gave up the plan because I failed to borrow enough money,” said Zhao.

After the COVID-19 epidemic emerged in China, Zhao and his wife chose to stay in their hometown Chongqing.

As the epidemic is increasingly contained across the country and the roadside business environment has improved, the couple returned to Shenzhen to restart their business.

“I heard that the management policy on street stalls has turned not as stringent as before. We have some regular customers so we are confident about our business,” said Zhao, adding that there are also vendors selling clothes and toys around.

In regards to concerns that the street was left greasy with street stalls, Zhao also recognized the issue and said that it is important for vendors to clean up their areas in order to attract more customers.

A young woman running her stall near the Danzhutou Metro station in Longgang District told the reporter that she started selling bags in early May as a part-time job to cover her living expenses.

She suggested that the income is not too much but she has considered selling other stuff in the future.

A man surnamed Zhao from Xi’an said that he was considering selling his homemade spicy gluten, or latiao, at a night market.

As roadside business has been put in spotlight recently, more and more platforms announced their plans to support small businesses.

Chinese online retailer, JD.com, said that they will allow each small shop to buy supplies worth up to 100,000 yuan on interest-free credit.

Tencent’s WeChat also announced their plan to enable vendors to conduct both online and offline sales.

However, many vendors said that they did not know too much about these policies.

The Shenzhen Municipal Urban Management and Law Enforcement Bureau said that they have already allowed some restaurants to run tables in outdoor areas in front of their stores during the epidemic to promote resumption of businesses.

Concerning the question of when there will be an official announcement to ease their operations, staff with the bureau said that it still needs further coordination among its departments.

(Wang Jingli)