Yeah, we would buy fish, chicken, and pork in the Wet Market in the Philippines just before daylight, much of it is fresher then, and the flies need sunlight.

There are also people selling from motorcycles as a one man business. Where our house is, 5K from town, you can go another 15K up in the Bukid (Mountain/country) So these gus will come by and supply Sari-Sari stores and individual customers as well.

Even children roam around when out of school or on weekends, holidays.. They typically sell snacks or fruits.

Some people specialize in a certain snack like sticky rice made into a candy wrapped in banana leaf,

Freezers are rare in the countryside, so there is money to be made selling ice. A cucumber sized chunk of Ice in a plastic bag. My wife's Nanay (Mother) went to the Elementary school with Ice Candy, which is powdered milk or koolaid with other ingredients, chocolate, coconut, fruit. etc.. She was charging 2 cents, and she might sell between 30-50 a day. These would typically be half an American Cool Pop sized.

Very hard to buy anything wholesale, you call up the company and they quote you retail.

I'll maintain that corporations as a form of business, need to go away. The further you get away from dealing in your neighborhood, the lower quality and higher the price gets.