Episode 2 Swansea Market

Built in the heart of the city,

Swansea Market is Wales' largest indoor market.

There you are. £16.82.

That's fantastic. Thank you very much indeed.

Every day, more than 700 people

compete alongside each other for business.

Get your chestnuts and your satsumas!

-Cockles!

-Come and get your fishies!

Their stalls will trade with the communities of modern Wales...

£4.79, £4.00 to you.

We'll think about it. Leave it here first.

Yeah, we'll think about it.

..and service its oldest institutions.

First time I've ever shook hands with royalty.

In the grip of a recession, this is the one place

where a small idea can still turn into a big profit.

The total business turnover is forecast to be just over £5 million.

But the way we shop is changing.

City centres are losing business to large supermarkets and retail parks.

I've never seen it as tough as it is now.

You're destroying the livelihood of 700 people

if you destroy Swansea Market.

So, how can it be right? How can it be right for the country?

The market has to pull together as a unit, as a team, I guess.

Filmed over the busiest period of the market's year...

Gotcha!

..this series explores the fortunes and fates of the city's traders,

as they try and keep their business dreams alive.

Three minutes late.

You know, Paul, it's not good enough, is it, son?

You've just got to pray somebody wants what we've got, basically.

That's all we can do.

Well, look! Look at all these lovely happy people.

You don't get that in Tesco's.

MUSIC BLASTS

# Well, it's Christmas time, pretty little baby

# And the snow is on the ground

# I said, it's Christmas time, pretty little baby

# And the snow is on the ground... #

The Christmas season has arrived in Swansea.

# ..You'd better be good, baby

# For Santa is back in town... #

Over the next three weeks,

market traders will experience their busiest period in the year,

as tens of thousands of shoppers descend on the city centre.

# ..Oh, it's Christmas time, pretty little baby

# And the snow is on the ground

# Oh, yeah

# Christmas

# Christmas

# Christmas

# Christmas

# Christmas

# Christmas

# Oh, yeah. #

Thank you very much. Thank you.

Merry Christmas.

82. OK?

-Can I help you at all, guys?

-No, love.

Lovely lobsters. You're all right, they are only for Christmas,

not like puppies. You're all right.

As the Christmas season begins,

new products are entering the market.

This one now is a Christmas one.

This is Santa's sausage, this is.

For a canny businessman, the festive season is also the perfect time

to open a stall and benefit from the bustling aisles.

At the far end of the market, the shutters of UBeautyU

are raising for the first time.

And a new business is beginning for discount perfume vendors

Edward and Sarah Lewis.

Basically, when places like L'Oreal or Procter & Gamble,

when they make too much of something or something comes out of fashion,

they want to get rid of it straightaway.

And then they basically advertise on the Internet

and then we order stock and they deliver it

and it comes in boxes like this,

and, er...that's how we get our stock.

For Edward and Sarah,

perfume is as much an obsession as it is a business.

I've got loads, because he brings loads home for me.

I've got nearly every one of the women's... Yeah!

He's got... What have you got, about 500 in the house, on the shelves?

-Nearly 600.

-It's like a perfume shop.

We've got, like, a townhouse,

and in one of the rooms, it's, like, full of aftershaves, like...

Yeah. It's mental.

But UBeautyU finds itself at the mature end of Swansea Market.

Receipt's in there. Any problems, fetch it back and change it.

It's stuck between a fashion stall for female pensioners

and an extra-large clothing shop.

Size 54. And they go up to size 66.

It's not prime real estate for young fashionistas.

Um... I think the shops around us attract the older clientele.

And the older clientele don't usually go after fragrances.

And when they do, we've already noticed

they're asking for older fragrances.

We want all ages, but we want to get past the stigma,

like, the older clients thinking, "This is for young people."

And we're trying to persuade them it isn't,

and the young people don't even come in the market.

-No. It's hard...

-So we're trying to get both in here to buy off us.

Edward brings a decade of sales' experience to the stall,

having dealt in everything from double glazing to discount holidays.

Anything for a beautiful lady, darling.

I tell you what...

You're full of it. I won't say anything else!

You like it, though, don't you?

-Why wouldn't you? It's nice to have a compliment.

-Yeah, see!

I'm the front man. I'm the one who has to get the customers.

I'm the salesman, basically.

He thinks he's working in an outdoor market.

He'll go, "Come on, ladies!" and stuff like that

and I'm dying, I'm, like, "I'll sit by here, on the floor."

If you buy two fragrances, I will knock the price down

because you're buying two, and you get two mascaras free.

-I'll have that, please.

-You want that one?

-Yeah.

-What's this one called?

-Sarah Jessica Parker.

You're cute and you've got good taste.

'I go on instinct.'

Sometimes, it might sound silly, and sometimes, it might sound good.

Whatever I think, I'll just say and hope for the best.

Edward is not alone with his sales technique.

Every trader has their own way

of turning the customer's browsing into buying.

What have you got that's nice today?

Everything. I'm nice, he's nice.

Come on, get your chestnuts!

Get your conkers! Get your satsumas!

Get anything! Get drunk!

Here's my friend, look.

Body of Baywatch, face of Crimewatch.

You listen to people and you get to know about their lives

and they get to know about yours.

Right, what are you after?

-One lemon, please.

-A lemon? No problem.

-Cold one today, isn't it?

-It is.

I know all the good and the bad...

and the ugly.

SHE LAUGHS

Thank you very much. I'll see you later.

-All right, then, love.

-All the best. Ta-ra.

-Just remember my face, all right?

-I won't forget it.

Audrey's more of a flirt than me.

-I'm not.

-Yes, you are. Don't say lies.

I wouldn't say flirt, because my missus is going to watch this,

but, er... I have a laugh and a joke with them.

You chat them up till they chase you and then you nearly cry!

SHE LAUGHS

The older men are always the worst.

We've had a lot of offers from older men, believe it or not.

But they're all over 80.

One even tells me he's going to take his cockles home

and put them under the pillow and think of me.

SHE LAUGHS

The customer in everybody's sights is the Christmas shopper.

And by December, they're beginning to arrive...

by the busload.

You're struggling there now, girls.

-I know.

-Jump on and put them underneath you.

Put them on your lap.

Every December, in the Rhondda valley,

the ladies of Gilfach Goch dust down their trollies

for the yearly trip to Swansea to shop till they drop.

Right, we're coming from a little place called Gilfach,

which is a small, very small place.

Lovely community and I wouldn't want to live anywhere else,

but there's nowhere to shop.

It's all right for small shops,

but then you need to go to Cardiff, to Swansea.

This is why we come to Swansea every year to do our big Christmas shop.

Get everything we can't get anywhere else.

There's a big lot of family on the bus.

Aunty Mo, Aunty Anne, Aunty Joan.

They're not my aunties, it's just... we all call them aunties

because, well, they're the aunties of the community.

For Jodie and her friends, Jo and Karen,

a trip to Swansea Market demands some serious equipment.

Last year, all our bags were breaking,

they were too heavy, it was crazy.

So we all decided to invest in these this year.

So I've got something a bit different.

A bit of Fifty Shades-inspired trolley!

Right, this is the list. Cockles, coat,

sweets for the kids, and an onion bhaji.

They're scary. You wouldn't want to eat it.

It looks a bit jungle for me.

Oh, that's that Paul Smith.

Oh, that's lovely!

That Paul Smith is lovely.

-No, it's not nice after a while.

-No?

Something for everyone here.

Yeah. You've got so much choice...

of places. This market is fab.

What's she doing? What's she buying?

-A coat. Another one.

-Another coat?

-We come, we go, we buy.

-Yeah.

But Karen needs to touch everything,

-buy everything, try everything.

-Yeah.

Can I have, please, five pounds in money of cockles?

-No problem.

-Thanks very much.

To eat now or wrapped?

Oh, they're not for me to eat! Wrap them up good and proper.

I don't touch nothing that's been in the sea, me.

-Don't you?

-Thanks very much, ta very much.

-Thank you! Ta-ra!

-Thank you!

Do you want to hold my cockles?

-They've been in the sea, Jo!

-No.

-Thanks.

So I'll do turkey dinner, no piggy blanket and glass of water. Yeah?

-Yes, please. Yeah.

-Right.

Across the other side of the market, the arrival of out-of-town shoppers

is pushing Sandy's carvery to its limit.

Two takeaway soup coming up.

Right, we got two takeaway soup, large, with rolls.

Yeah. I've got the cheese on toast.

-Hiya!

-Can I have a dinner?

A dinner.

Oh, it's nuts!

We came in and I hadn't put my bag down

and I had orders before we even opened the shutters.

And it's stayed mad ever since.

The lady in the baby stall across the way

asked for tea and toast about two hours ago

and only now, we're doing it.

But she's OK, she understands.

Sandy has also introduced her own lunchbox Christmas dinner.

OK, we've got turkey, we've got chicken, we've got beef.

We had pork, but it's all gone.

We've got cabbage, we've got sprouts, carrot and broccoli mix,

we've got parsnips, we've got mash, we've got new potato.

Roast, peas and carrots, roast potatoes,

cauliflower cheese, more carrots and swede.

Sometimes, people come back and say,

"San, I didn't have a roast potato."

So I've forgotten to put one on and then they end up having more

because I won't just put one roast potato on a plate,

it looks mean. So they have two or three.

Right, I'm going to cross that off, OK?

I've got the next one coming for table four.

There's a tea with that.

-Yeah?

-So if you run that, I'll do the tea quickly.

What's happening with the bacon and mushroom baguette?

I think you've got to realise you're going to be busy.

You need to be pretty, um...you know, well prepped up.

And you've just got to try and be smiley.

That's what I think is the most important thing,

is being a person who's nice to the customers.

They come up and you're nice and smiley and they think,

"I want to come back here again.

"I can see they're really busy, I know I had a bit of a wait,

"but they look like they're having a real good laugh in there,

"while they're being serious about their food."

Sandy will serve over 150 meals on a busy day.

And not even she can keep on top of everything.

Rob peeled all my potatoes, my back-up roast potatoes for me,

and he cut them nice and small so that they would cook quicker,

and then we got so busy that I forgot.

You know? MasterChef, here I come!

SHE LAUGHS

So I think we have too many customers

with false dentures for these.

SHE LAUGHS

For Head of Security Eric Toms,

the start of the festive period brings new responsibilities.

I think the biggest problems are theft.

You get a lot of people that have stolen from other shops

and they've tried to walk through,

and we get radioed and we know they're coming

and we keep an eye on them.

Um...and we pass them on to other stores

to make sure that they don't get away.

Edward and Sarah's perfume stall is an obvious target for thieves.

And Eric has decided to test their security.

I'm just going to attempt to steal something from the perfume stall.

It's going to be awkward because there are people talking to them,

but we'll have a look.

OK. This is the bottle that we just had from the perfume stall.

I'll return that straightaway. I don't know what the value of it is.

But it was done quickly, he hadn't seen it.

Here you are, my friend, your bottle back.

-Thank you very much.

-You're welcome.

Obviously, you know about the filming.

We're just pointing out how quick and easy it was,

-how it can happen so quick when you're being distracted.

-Yes.

And that's about it, basically.

We're not only doing yours, I'm going to do someone else's now.

In fact, I'm going to do quite a few.

On a good day, Eric will steal from up to half-a-dozen stalls.

We've just come up to this stall.

I can see straightaway that the lady's in the stall,

so she's obviously not watching this.

There we go. Thank you very much. We just walk.

Would you, um...like some of your stock back?

Would you like some of your stock back?

Yes, thank you very much.

I'm going to the ladies, would you check my stall for me, please?

I was showing Will how easy it was to get something from the stalls.

Yeah, but this is special.

HE LAUGHS

-So...

-But my gut instincts told me...

that something was happening.

Yeah. So now you want me to keep an eye on your stall?

Keep an eye on my stall, as I go down there.

Right, what actually happened there, Will, was that...

that was a bit of bad luck.

She's actually wanted to go to the loo

and come out after I've pinched it.

But she didn't even know when she passed

that I had her scarves on me until I gave them back.

She wants me to look after her stall now when she has gone to the loo.

By late afternoon, the market is quietening down.

After six hours of shopping,

the trollies from Gilfach Goch have reached breaking point.

I've got my cockles, you've got your onion bhajis.

Karen's got a coat.

Coat. Because there's no market in Gilfach any more.

Do you want to get some sweets to take home?

Got a Callum. Got a Tyler?

Got a Tyler and a William.

-And a William?

-Yeah, and a William.

Right. Got a Tyler, Callum and a William bar.

Ready for home now.

We've had a lovely day, but we can't wait to go home.

And the bus is waiting for us, again.

-Is this normal?

-Yeah. Every year!

-Yeah!

We were the last ones on the bus last year.

And Karen didn't come last year.

So this year, we'll blame Karen shopping.

My phone is going yet again.

Look at the trolley cemetery, where they've all given up.

RIP, trollies. RIP!

December in Swansea is a time of funfairs and late-night shopping.

It's a chance for the city's small businesses

to turn the festive spirit into a tidy profit.

For the market's newest traders,

this means working late into the night.

Emily Poole's new Chocoholics shop

sells handmade organic chocolates.

To keep her shelves full, a new batch must be shaped

almost every night in a nearby cafe.

I'd say on average a box of truffles would be about £6.00 for a box,

and then the lollies are about £1.00 or £2.00,

and then these would be loose.

So ideally, to get a full wage, even if it's a minimum full wage,

we'd need to be selling 120 chocolate truffles every day.

People always want chocolate.

And I think it might be hit a little bit by the recession.

If it was done a few years ago,

I think it might do a little bit better,

but at the same time, if people want chocolate,

I know that most people I know,

even if they've got 30p that's spare

and they really want something sugary,

they'd much rather do that than save it up.

After a decade working in offices,

Emily has invested all her savings to start Chocoholics.

There are only a handful of one-man bands like her in the market.

I guess it was when I hit 30,

realising that I was just still temping in an admin role, um...

and actually deciding to actually go for something that I wanted to do.

I had all the support there to help me to do that,

so I thought, "Right, just go for it."

But I think it was actually realising that I hadn't actually done much

that I wanted to do yet.

I think you have to follow your dreams in life,

but be careful with it at the same time.

For all stallholders, the pressure to earn a living

can lead to the market taking over their lives.

Sunday morning will find many still hard at work.

Battling to keep their business alive,

David and Janet Court's home is overrun with stock

from I Do Wedding Favours.

This is the hallway.

I like to keep this free, as well,

from anything to do with the business.

Not always possible, because we've usually got loads of parcels here,

but I do like to keep it free from business

because if anybody calls, first impressions count.

So I don't want boxes. David doesn't mind, of course.

Boxes earn the money.

What's in them does.

So this is what we... This is... I'm so proud of it.

-THEY LAUGH

-Did you get that?!

Use the still.

This has got nothing to do with me, whatsoever.

I'm so embarrassed!

'The public take over our lives.

'That's all we have to think about, is the brides and the shop

'and getting there on time and getting what they need.'

And even on a Sunday, we're preparing for the rest of the week.

And this is David's stockroom.

This is where some of the obvious differences lie

between living and working.

This should be a double bedroom.

Centrally heated, double glazed,

and all the rest of it. Beautiful room.

But what have we got? We've got a stockroom.

We've got shelving that I've built, as you can see.

The normal way of doing it

is you have your home and then you hire a unit on an industrial estate

and all the work goes on over there

and then you come home and it's all lovely.

But the cheapest way to do it

is have your industrial unit within your house

and to also live within your house

and try as hard as you possibly can to keep the two apart.

David and Janet's large house is located just south of Aberystwyth,

over an hour away from Swansea Market.

If we drive directly to the shop, it's 55 miles.

But we might have to visit a wholesalers on the way in.

It's a very long day and you just start running out of energy.

We're not 20 years old any more.

One man who is not lacking energy is Gold Reserves' Peter Middleton,

today visiting a local radio station to drive business to his stall.

Guess what this is.

I've no idea. Treats?

-Custard slices.

-Oh! You're spoiling us today.

Absolutely.

His gold-buying business now deals in

£100,000 worth of gold every week.

Hello, Bev. Mr Middleton's in reception for you.

OK? Thank you. 'Bye!

Thank you. Can I go up?

You can indeed, yes.

Today is the start of his Christmas marketing campaign.

For more reviews, visit goldreserves.co.uk.

Now open Sundays.

Can we do, "Now open Sundays!"?

You need to brighten up a little bit. You're a little bit...

For more reviews, visit gold reserves.co.uk.

Now open Sundays!

That was a bit cheesy, that one.

THEY LAUGH

Most business owners are technicians, I guess.

Maybe you've got a skill or a trade, if you like,

and you're fed up with earning other people money, so you go and do that.

What people perhaps don't take the time to learn

is how to run a business.

And they just work in the business, rather than on the business.

The message from the satisfied customers is clear -

sell it, before the bubble bursts, at Gold Reserves in Swansea Market,

and also Stepney Precinct Llanelli.

For more reviews, visit goldreserves.co.uk.

Now open Sundays!

I've measured for every £37 I spend with this particular station,

I get £100 back in profit.

So, you know, I want to spend as much money as I can here.

We've gone up from spending less than £100 a week maybe

to more nearer the £4,000 or £5,000 a week mark at the moment.

And I want to spend more.

Because if I can get it to prove a return,

then I want to be spending £100,000 a week.

-There we go. You're done.

-Cool.

Demand for Peter's services is so high

that after only 40 minutes in the radio station,

there's already a willing customer.

Do you want to price these separately, do you?

Yeah. Because I don't know if I want to do those yet,

but those definitely can go.

It's mostly going to be nine carat.

But you never know, there may be the odd bit of 18.

It's worth looking.

'I spend 80% of my time on the marketing of the business.

'So driving customers

'and customer relationship with existing customers.

'Whereas I used to spend 100% of my time on the stall.'

How much do you reckon?

£60.00?

Oh!

Oh, my God! Yay!

SHE LAUGHS

That's brilliant!

'What I'm doing now is a lot easier

'than what I was when I was standing behind a counter.'

That's what most small business owners do

for their whole lives sometimes, and it can be almost a jail sentence.

Back in the market, the food traders

are beginning to build up to the final Christmas rush.

Beef silverside, this is.

Pigeon breast, I've got in the freezer.

Will there be any more wild rabbit? Any more wild rabbit?

Got to get it all loaded up, nice and presentable, yeah.

# Come and buy me! #

Customer service has to be at its best.

If you need any help there, love, just give me a shout.

You've got to be on the ball now, from now till Christmas,

because if the customers are around, they need serving.

Numbers in the market are expected to double,

as people shop for their Christmas dinner.

The trade that comes with this time of year

sees us through January, February.

People come, they might not shop here any other time of the year,

but they come down at Christmas.

And hopefully, we'll get it right at Christmas,

they'll get it right at Christmas,

and people get back into the habit of Swansea Market shopping.

-I make a lot of them myself.

-You make a lot of them?

-Yeah. I make most of these ones.

-Oh, right. I hope it works, anyway.

For Emily Poole's Chocoholics stall,

this Christmas is a vital chance to establish her business.

'Christmas is the most important time.

'That's when most people buy chocolates for everyone.'

And then hopefully, they'll all come back throughout the year

and remember that we're here.

It's getting a customer base.

With nobody else supporting her,

Chocoholics' future will depend on the business

Emily can generate over this festive period.

At the moment, I'm being very careful with money.

Not spending it on anything else, apart from necessary things.

And I had a little bit of money saved up from my previous job.

And, er...but I am also looking into things like working tax credits.

See what's available to help me, as well.

I'll have Baileys, strawberry and champagne.

Yeah, and can I have some after-dinner mint?

Yes.

-There you go.

-Thank you very much.

-See you soon.

-'Bye!

A lot of people have really liked it.

And a lot of people... Well, the customers who've come here so far

have all said they'd much rather get something handmade,

a bit more personal for them,

because it's just a nicer gift to give, or to eat, even.

For the last week of this year's market trading,

Emily, Edward, and the 101 other stallholders

will work harder than they have worked all year.

For the next eight days, we've got about 104 hours' work.

104 hours over the eight days.

To me, water off a duck's back. Just get on with it.

Swansea Market's Christmas food rush is just about to begin.

Next time, in Swansea Market,

a special visitor graces the market's aisles.

-Do you shake hands, or not?

-Hold that out.

That's good.

The axe falls on a struggling business.

Taking everything out of here is like pulling our dream to pieces.

And the pressure rises on the final Christmas weekend.

Oh! We've lost out.

Just made my mind up now.

He can't get it on. Transport's gone.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd