RHON­DOR DOWLAT

It has not start­ed to look like Christ­mas for mem­bers of the Down­town Own­ers and Mer­chants As­so­ci­a­tion (DO­MA) who are re­port­ing slow sales in the na­tion’s cap­i­tal.

DO­MA’s pres­i­dent Gre­go­ry Aboud said Port-of-Spain is still strug­gling to re­cov­er from chal­lenges caused by the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic.

“Port of Spain has not yet at­tained busi­ness vol­umes that equate to pre-pan­dem­ic lev­els. Gen­er­al­ly speak­ing re­ports from oth­er ar­eas of the coun­try, in­clud­ing San Fer­nan­do and else­where, seems to in­di­cate a gen­er­al trend of vol­umes which are low­er than pre pan­dem­ic lev­els,” Aboud said.

He said, how­ev­er, that busi­ness peo­ple are ex­treme­ly grate­ful for the Christ­mas busi­ness that is com­ing their way. He al­so thanked the po­lice for their vis­i­bil­i­ty through­out the city.

“There has been im­proved vis­i­bil­i­ty of the po­lice ser­vice and promis­es made re­gard­ing safe­ty and se­cu­ri­ty in the down­town cen­tre have been kept. So far pub­lic has been pro­tect­ed while they go about their busi­ness,” Aboud said.

He added that in 2023 DO­MA will re­new their ef­forts to con­tin­ue to try to pro­tect the na­tion’s cap­i­tal from those who do not un­der­stand busi­ness op­er­a­tions and whose ac­tions have been hurt­ing the city’s fu­ture.

“Port-of-Spain is suf­fer­ing from a num­ber of prob­lems, some of which have been im­posed by those who do not un­der­stand busi­ness and who pre­fer to al­ways feel that their ac­tions of hurt­ing busi­ness ac­tiv­i­ty will have no con­se­quence for the city. We will re­new our ef­forts in 2023 to coun­ter­act that and con­tin­ue to try to pro­tect our na­tion’s cap­i­tal from those who do not un­der­stand busi­ness op­er­a­tions and whose ac­tions have been hurt­ing the fu­ture of Port-of-Spain,” he said.

Shaquille De Souza, a store clerk at Cook­ies & Cream, said toys at the Queen Street branch have been sell­ing out.

“So far, it’s been amaz­ing and this is my first year ex­pe­ri­enc­ing the Christ­mas and a lot of things have been sell­ing out,” he said

How­ev­er, a street ven­dor who gave her name on­ly as Cheryl de­scribed sales as slow.

“Be­fore COVID you could have get plen­ty sales, you could make mon­ey but now it slow,” she said.

La Vaughn Thomas, from Paramin, who was shop­ping in down­town said: “The prices are tremen­dous­ly risen but I am buy­ing as I am able to buy.”