World’s Most Successful Street Vendor

I found Joseph Ades — considered by many as “The World’s Most Successful Street Vendor”— by accident, while I was visiting New York City. He was pitching his wares on a corner of Union Square. Nattily dressed in a well-cut suit, and shirt with cufflinks and tie, he looked like the men known as patterers in Victorian times. He had been working so hard and long that late summer day, demonstrating the “amazing” peeling features of his “Swiss-made” vegetable peeler, that he was perspiring profusely.

His voice was strong, and he spoke nonstop with an Australian accent, like those infomercial salesmen on TV who are selling their other “amazing” products. His presentation is a nonstop loop, like an actor soliloquizing. Then, without missing a beat, he announces that it was time for people to buy his peelers … “$5 each, four for $20, remember the blade is Swiss-made steel. Buy even more because the holidays are coming…”

His audiences reached into their pockets for money to make purchases. He took their money, handed over peelers … and, his eyes never left the money.

No one really knows how many of his vegetable peelers Ades actually sells for $5 each or whether the blade is made in Switzerland. But his reputation … his image as New York’s “gentleman peeler” … has earned him fame and respect.

By the best guess of press accounts, Ades is in his mid-70s. He was born in England and came to New York around 1994. At least that’s the popular legend. He’s been hawking his vegetable peeler ever since, capturing an increasing amount of media coverage in magazines, newspapers, and on TV.

His swarthy complexion, hawk nose, and wooly beard are like the features an actor might add for effect. He is a master of showmanship, precisely picking up a carrot or potato from a large bin next to his stand and deftly shaving the outer peel to demonstrate how to make potato chips, French fries, or a salad you have only dreamed of preparing.

For many people his age, it might be a time to slow down. That’s not apparently for Ades. He’s too busy making money.