After a Decade, NYC Opened Its Waitlist for General Street Vendor Permits. Here’s What You Need to Know.

The city is adding 10,500 new merchandise vending permits next year—which grant vendors the right to legally sell goods, rather than food—after capping the number at just 853 for decades. “I said, ”Oh my God, this thing is really happening,'” said Calvin Baker, a longtime Harlem vendor who was among the first to apply.