Birmingham, England – It is 8am in the vibrant South Asian high street of Alum Rock, a predominantly Muslim neighbourhood in Birmingham, the United Kingdom’s second-largest city.
Removing the draped blue tarpaulin held in place by several upside-down crates to cover his stall, Abdul Nafi, 31, artistically arranges fresh and juicy looking fruit and vegetables along his wooden structured, shop-front table. He sells bowls of tomatoes and peppers, apples and plums from £1 (around $1.35); the display looks inviting from a considerable distance, with more boxes of fresh produce stocked behind in the shop.
“Here, the community doesn’t get their fruit and vegetables from supermarkets, they prefer to get it from stands like mine,” he says, also indicating three other stallholders down the street. “If we decide to stop working, where will people get the ripest and cheapest produce in the area?”