It will take some time for the full impact of the closure of its Caribbean operations by the American cosmetics giant Avon to be felt in the Guyana economy, but amongst the vendors, mostly women, who have, for years, sold the company’s cosmetics goods from their living rooms, in small makeshift stores and even from pavements, the end of Avon’s operations in Guyana appears to have brought with it a sense of shock and bewilderment.
The company says that it took the decision as one of a clutch of initiatives designed to repair its operations in its home market, the United States. Sixteen Caribbean countries, mostly Caricom member states, have been dropped from Avon’s distribution circuit and at the individual level, thousands of the mostly female agents from across the region have their own stories to tell.
In Georgetown earlier this week, the Avon stalls on a section of the downtown pavement sandwiched between Guyana Stores and Fogarty’s still appeared to be at their resplendent best though in talking to the vendors it was difficult not to sense the aura of bewilderment over the realization that they had picked up their last set of orders from the