DAGUPAN Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez urged Mayor Benjamin Lim to join her in helping and nurturing the small countryside entrepreneurs, especially the sari-sari storeowners, who also contribute to the city’s economic development.

Fernandez made the call in a talk to newsmen shortly after the opening of the 5th Sari-Sari Store Fair at the CSI Stadia where she learned that many neighborhood small sari-sari store owners have already closed shop after they were told and threatened by by taxmen from the city hall that they can be charged if they don’t secure and pay for business permits.

The minimum fee for their permits, the small entrepreneurs said, is even higher than the total value of their stock inventory in their small outlets.

The capitalization of many neighborhood sari-sari stores is only about P3,000 to P4,000 and are set up inside their homes.

Fernandez asked the city hall to adjust its policies and exempt these small businesses from payment of permits that presently range from P5,000 to P8,000.

More than 20,000 sari-sari storeowners from all over Dagupan and Pangasinan joined the sari-star store fair that started in 2007 to highlight contributions of small entrepreneurs to the development of the countryside.

At least 35 suppliers from Manila exhibited their products in the fair, offering products at discounted prices and promo items to buyers.

The fair also featured a seminar to teach sari-sari storeowners simple accounting and bookkeeping, merchandising and how to undertake product mix to make their stores more attractive to buyers.

The opening day of the fair was attended by Department of Trade and Industry provincial director Peter Mangabat who said that of the 34,000 retailers in the province, 70 percent of them are sari-sari storeowners.

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