Stallholder makes a windfall due to cold weather

WHILE the cold weather threatens the livelihood of farmers in mountain barangays, it provided a windfall for stallholders like Pablita Lawas in Carbon Market in barangay Pasil, Cebu City.

The 73-year-old Lawas is selling more jackets and socks in her ukay-ukay or second hand clothes stall in the past few days. She sells her jackets at P50 to P100 each and a pair of socks for P5 to P20.

“This is unexpected because jackets are usually in demand during September or December while people look for socks during the opening of classes,” she told Cebu Daily News in Cebuano.

On ordinary days, Lawas said she can sell three to five jackets and five pairs of socks a day. At the onset of the cold spell in January, Lawas has been selling more than 10 jackets and 10 pairs of socks a day.

“I have no plans to increase prices despite the demand. The lower the price that you give then the more customers you have. These items are all Class B. All of the items are from the US,” she said.

Lawas said most of her customers are teenagers who prefer to buy “ukay-ukay” jackets than the pricier items sold in department stores.
She buys one kilogram of pre-owned jackets worth P6,000 and P7,000 for one kilogram of socks from J-Kings.

“Sa miaging bulan og dili ting tugnaw ika-usa ra ko mo-kompra pero karon nga kusog ang halin ikaduha sa usa kabulan na (In the past month when it wasn’t that cold, I would only buy once but now the demand is big I bought items twice),” Lawas said.

Aside from jackets and socks, Lawas also sells neckties, long sleeved polos and polo T-shirts.

She usually starts selling at 9 a.m and closes her stall at 10 p.m by herself since her husband works as a painter.

Selling these items for more than 20 years helped her send her five children in various Cebu universities.
“All of them are professionals and licensed engineers and that’s all because of my ukay-ukay,” she said.

“This kind of job is relaxing. I also choose the ukay-ukay business because the items that you won’t be able to sell won’t spoil unlike food,” Lawas said.