When Stabroek Business arrived at Stall A3 Giftland Mall on Wednesday it was as if a small squall has just passed through the cramped space.
Everywhere, there were black plastic bags crammed with what we subsequently determined to be washing waiting to be done. What little room remained in the stall was occupied by a number of washers and driers, one of which had been partially dismantled by a couple of probing technicians. Diana Austin, a slight, young woman and another member of the Double Bubble Team were operating in a small space which appeared to be the area in which the cleaned washing was folded prior to collection by customers and where the administrative work was done.
Our awareness of the premium on space had dawned on Diana so that the discourse between us began with the steady growth in patronage and just how quickly Double Bubble had outgrown A3 Giftland Mall. Expansion to the neighbouring stall was under consideration but at 27, the former Queen’s College and University of Guyana student had become a sufficiently consummate businesswoman to ‘do the numbers’ so to speak as part of the process of contemplating her expansion plans.
