Or you can read Avena’s story below:
At 16, I landed in London with a wide eye, nerves floating in my stomach. Everything felt magnificent. The air was cold, the buildings loomed tall, and people were walking, bustling past different parts. That made my heart pant.
I made my way to Petticoat Lane market, a name I’d always heard about in school in Nigeria. The moment I arrived, a wave of excitement washed into me. The smell of the market, the sound, the accents, the loud noise, scent of food, a clear smell of leather and fabric. Every store was a new adventure and the corner offered something unexpected.
Immediately, I followed the weight of the city on my shoulder. The market felt overwhelming because people haggled and there was so much noise shouting like, it remind me a bit of my culture where I come from.
So for a moment I felt a bit small. Then I wondered, I went to a store. I was touching the scarves, the fabric, which remind me much about Nigeria because I could see what, I could see it, they were so familiar with what I’ve noticed. And I said, wow, this is like Nigeria.
It is unique. I saw different kinds of people. They, they had Jews, they had everyone. They had Jewish bakery in this market. They had key cutting things. They were selling plates. It was everybody mix. They had Africans, then they had the Indians. They were doing leather in the leather area. So that really caught my attention.
I’m not going to lie, it was like different culture. I’ve never seen this before. Then I realised this place is a place that I need to be.
10 years after I came to have my own business, I came to particular, I opened a store and the store, my dream, I’ve worked and my dream as if it’s come true. Being in Petticoat Lane, if you stick to just one business, you’re going to leave this place.
Here is a place that is adapted to change. This area is our change. If you don’t have change, you can’t be in this area. You can’t succeed in business. That’s, I think that’s why I’ve been here for long. I always changed my business.
I used to sell hair when extension came. I used to sell extension. I used to sell shoes and now those things, they are online and I shift to the food.
It makes me really, really happy. You know, you see like a Korean man coming to buy food from you. You see Chinese coming. You see English coming. You see Turkish coming. It’s exciting. Iranian coming. It’s beautiful. I’m lucky to be here.
I’ve been in Petticoat Lane for all this time, up to 30 years. I’ve changed so many businesses and, in the community, I’ve seen people grow up, bring kids, their parents bought shoes from me. This is like my safe haven. You see, coming here, it has prolonged my life, just being around this area.
If I can do it with all my problems I’m going through and I can sit, stand, and come and talk to people, you know, it makes me feel proud of myself. You see, when you are going through things and you meet people, you tend to give them happiness and you’re going to be happy.
