Street Find
A Street Find is a Spotted category for street vendors, roadside carts, and temporary stalls. It captures informal commerce — the kind that no directory lists, no app indexes, and no map pin marks. A street find exists only in the knowledge of the people who have walked past it.
India's informal street economy is enormous. Tens of millions of street vendors operate in urban areas, selling everything from produce to electronics repairs. Almost none of them exist in any digital index. A Spotted Street Find is often the first and only record of their location, timing, and what they sell — created by a neighbour, visible to other neighbours.
Street finds are inherently impermanent: the cart may only be there on certain days, the vendor may move. This is exactly why Spotted is the right format — a location-anchored, community-verified post that tells people where it was found and what was there, without requiring the vendor to have any digital presence at all.
Frequently Asked Questions
What counts as a Street Find?
Any vendor, cart, or stall operating on the street or in an informal location — not inside a formal shop or building. Produce sellers, snack carts, repair carts, flower sellers, and similar.
How is a Street Find different from a Local Store?
A Local Store is an established retail shop with a fixed address. A Street Find is informal, often temporary, and operates without a storefront. The distinction matters because street finds are much harder to discover through any other channel.