Village market pulls over 450 visitors

Thrifted clothes, handbags, shoes, hand-made jewellery, a variety of desserts, cheeses, snacks, fish bowls, fruits and vegetables line the vendors’ stalls at The Village Sunday Market.

Sounds from local band Soul Jazz fill the air.

The market, which takes place every Sunday at Zest Mediterranean Restaurant in Windhoek, attracted over 450 visitors this past weekend.

Visitors are charged N$20, which covers the live band.

The Namibian sat down with founder Alain Seha on Sunday to discuss what keeps visitors coming back.

Seha says he got the idea for the market during the Covid-19 pandemic when he saw vendors run to the corners of their streets and neighbourhoods to sell their produce for some extra income when the world went into lockdown.

He then opened his driveway and invited vendors to have a place to sell their goods at no charge.

“The idea was to build a community of friends and promote locally made products made by locals. I got a lot of joy from seeing vendors sell their products. I never used to charge them,” he says.

Seha was then approached by the owner of The Village to bring the idea to Zest, then formally known as ‘The Village’, to liven up the quiet Sundays at the restaurant.

He says the market has reached its capacity of 52 stalls, which have grown from the 10 stalls in his driveway.

Seha says his plan is to upscale the value of stalls by helping vendors reach their potential.

“We want to upclass the vendors and uplift the quality of their products through training on how to present their products to visitors,” he says.

Vendors Marlize Labuschagne and her husband, Gunther, have an events business that also sells woodwork.

“We are here to meet people, market our business, and show people all the different things we can make,” she says.

Labuschagne points to a fishbowl that also acts as a centrepiece, saying the idea came to her while she was taking a shower.

She also collaborates with her friend, Shani Feris’ baking business to show off her decorative wooden pieces.

Feris says the market allows her to showcase a variety of her desserts with her friend.

“I make a lot of things, and the market helps me showcase all these desserts – from red velvet to chocolate and apple crumble,” she says.

Vendor Lino Ngava, who works for Urban Eden, says he has been learning how to make cheese produced in The Netherlands and has made this for the local market for the past three years.

Now he has developed a taste for producing goats’ cheese products locally.

“Urban Eden has taught me everything I know about cheese,” he says.

Ngava says he will keep learning so that he can open his own cheese business.

SUNDAY FUN … The Village Sunday Market offers visitors a variety of goods from desserts, handmade jewellery, food, thrifted clothes and live music from The Ells, Soul Jazz, Lize Ehlers, The Yesterdaye who draw crowds with their performances. Senior citizens and children enter for free while visitors are charged N$20 that goes to the performers.

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