Hawker (trade)
Whether stationary or mobile, hawkers often advertise by loud street cries or chants, and conduct banter with customers, to attract attention and enhance sales.
Claire Holleran has examined literary, legal and pictorial sources to provide evidence for the presence of hawkers in antiquity, especially ancient Rome.
The vendors mainly sold everyday food at low prices and clustered around temples, theatres, bathhouses and forums where to take advantage of the optimal commercial opportunities.
[5] Hawkers, hucksters and peddlers occupied a different social position to merchants and were regarded as marginal in society.
[6] However, English narratives from the 12th and 13th centuries suggest that hardworking hawkers could advance to positions as packmen and ultimately wealthy wholesalers or merchants.
[7] Traditionally deeply rooted in the social and economic fabric of many countries in the Global South, the practice of street vending has, in recent decades, extended its reach to even the most developed nations, taking on various forms.
According to M. Meneghetti, informal street vending in global society often represents a complex and highly flexible form of agency that allows for the adaptation and functional development of the social actor practicing it in relation to a given personal or collective situation of distress (real or perceived), whether it be social, legal, cultural, economic, or political.
[9][10] According to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, there are 10 million street vendors in India, with Mumbai accounting for 250,000, Delhi has 200,000, Kolkata, more than 150,000, and Ahmedabad, 100,000.
[11][12][13] Over the years, the street vendors have organized themselves into trade unions and associations, and numerous NGO's have started working for them.
Street vending is significant portion of Dhaka's informal economy, an employment opportunity for better livelihoods of the urban poor.
[citation needed] Balut is a popular dish sold by hawkers in the Philippines, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam.
[21] However, in Hong Kong, the lease versus licensed hawker restrictions have put a burden on this mobile food culture.
[31] The shops at the Avellaneda street estimated that the presence of manteros would make them lose 200 million pesos in the Christmas and holiday season.
[32] According to the Confederación Argentina de la Mediana Empresa (CAME), as of December 2013 there were 463 manteros working in Once, 16.8% of the total in Buenos Aires.
[31] The government of Buenos Aires usually attempts to eradicate the manteros with police raids, removing them from the sidewalks and seizing their products.
Many people who work as camelôs sell their products knowing that they are of low quality, and charge high prices nonetheless.
[citation needed] The word is borrowed from the French camelot, meaning "merchant of low-quality goods", and the term marreteiro is also sometimes used.
[citation needed] In the English-speaking Caribbean, hawkers are commonly referred to as hagglers or informal commercial importers.
Many of the ambulantes come from rural areas to sell their goods including prickly pear cactus, bordados (embroideries) and polleras (embroidered skirts).
[39] In large cities across North America, hawkers are commonly known as street vendors, who sell snack items, such as deep-fried bananas, cotton candy, fried noodles, beverages like bubble tea, and ice cream, along with non-edible items, such as jewelry, clothes, books, and paintings.
Hawkers are also found selling various items to fans at a sports venue; more commonly, this person is simply referred to as a stadium vendor.
[40][41] In the early 20th century, a street corner hawker of hot potatoes and pies could be referred to as an all-hot man.
