Thai grocery trucks get new life from COVID-19 shutdown

Customers wearing face masks shop at Wannapa Yarnsarn's mobile grocery truck at a national housing condominium.

For generations such mobile shops were common in Thai neighbourhoods but new shopping malls with their big supermarkets and convenience stores with microwave-ready meals have nearly driven them out of business.

A worker loads fresh produce onto a mobile grocery truck at the Si Mum Muang Market in Bangkok, Thailand

Now the coronavirus outbreak has given some of the back-of-a-truck shops a new lease of life.

A grocery truck vendor sells fresh produce. The government is trying to limit social gatherings and is urging people to stay at home.

A grocery truck vendor prepares fresh produce at the Si Mum Muang Market.

Workers wearing face masks prepare fresh produce before loading them onto a mobile grocery truck at the Si Mum Muang Market.

A worker loads fresh produce onto a mobile grocery truck at the Si Mum Muang Market. Shopping malls have been ordered to close except for restaurant deliveries and supermarkets, and a six-hour curfew is in force at night.

A customer wearing a face mask shops at Wannapa Yarnsarn's mobile grocery truck.

Customers wearing face masks gather around Wannapa Yarnsarn's mobile grocery truck.