Customers still buy for local currency but vendors cannot operate without their own reserves of US dollars or Deutschmarks.

Today, only 20 vendors operate in a blocklong building between 114th and 115th Streets, one of the four remaining indoor buildings.

In the informal sector, 22,000 vendors operate in regulated or unregulated vending zones.

Some vendors operate out of backpacks and suitcases.

There is also a large craft store run by the Nation itself; most vendors in the area operate from small private stalls.

Many more vendors operate illegally, officials say.

But the city currently has no legal authority to require the vendors to operate where the markers have been painted.

They further complain that these vendors operate illegally and pay none of the taxes that their businesses place in the city's coffers.

As of May 2008, only four vendors were operating out of the last building, but the number later increased, reaching ten in early 2011.

The vendors operate in a closed network in which they possess a shared stock of software products.