RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA 

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt

Christ­mas shop­ping has slow­ly start­ed pick­ing up in San Fer­nan­do a week be­fore Christ­mas with phones and tablets be­ing the hottest sell­ers.

Un­like pre­vi­ous years, cloth­ing, shoes and ac­ces­sories have tak­en a hit.

At the Dol­lar Store on Low­er High Street, store own­er Lat­iffa Rahim said sales were abysmal. 

“Look around we have no cus­tomers. Sales went down by 100 per cent. We don’t sell any­thing ex­pen­sive. We are beg­ging cus­tomers to come in but peo­ple have no mon­ey. Cus­tomers are cry­ing that they have no mon­ey. They com­ing and are short of mon­ey. We try to help as much as we could,” she said.

She said cloth fab­ric was be­ing sold at three yards for $20 and this too was re­main­ing on the shelves. Be­cause of the de­crease in sales, Rahim said she has re­duced her work­force by half.

At Priyas Cre­ations Christ­mas Flea Mar­ket store on Up­per High Street, there was a long line up of cus­tomers. All shop­pers wore masks and did not seem to mind keep­ing their dis­tance as they wait­ed to cash. Work­er Kyle Dou­glas said they too had dropped their prices.

He said a drone which sold for $999 ear­li­er in the year was now be­ing of­fered for $899.

“Over the past few days we have seen a dras­tic im­prove­ment in sales but when com­pared to last year, the sales were a bit slow,” he said.

Fe­l­isha Mo­hammed who worked at the B-Mo­bile store said sales have been fluc­tu­at­ing. She said about be­tween 100 to 120 phones were sold per week.

“We have seen an in­crease in sales. When you buy any of the A-se­ries phones you get all the ac­ces­sories with it, the free tem­pered glass, cas­ing ear­buds as well as the one year war­ran­ty on the phones,” Mo­hammed said.

Pres­i­dent of the Greater San Fer­nan­do Area Cham­ber of Com­merce Ki­ran Singh said sales have been in­creas­ing since Di­vali.

“We have been of­fer­ing dis­counts and pro­mo­tions. We have sev­er­al pri­vate car parks in con­sul­ta­tion. Free park­ing no wreck­ing on Har­ris Prom­e­nade and the side streets. 

Singh said the ma­jor­i­ty of busi­ness own­ers on the streets were wear­ing their masks. They have set up hand wash-basins and so­cial dis­tanc­ing is ad­hered to and what we are see­ing strict ad­her­ence of the Min­istry of Health guide­lines.

“Tech­no­log­i­cal de­vices, smart TVs, bikes, ap­pli­ances and fur­ni­ture are be­ing sold. These ap­pear to be the hottest sell­ers,” Singh said.

Foot pa­trols and lev­el of crime pet­ty theft is not hap­pen­ing this year and we have to thank the TT Po­lice Ser­vice for keep­ing us safe,” he said.

Pres­i­dent of the San Fer­nan­do Busi­ness As­so­ci­a­tion said even though busi­ness own­ers were sell­ing at cost price, pur­chas­ing pow­er re­mains low.

“We are try­ing every­thing. The wreck­er as well the po­lice who are giv­ing tick­ets is a de­ter­rent to shop­pers. The ven­dors are vend­ing on the pave­ment and the streets and this is al­so a dis­ad­van­tage. Peo­ple don’t like con­ges­tion so many are head­ing to the malls. Park­ing is al­so a big prob­lem in San Fer­nan­do,” she said.

Bartlett al­so said that many peo­ple had de­cid­ed not to pur­chase presents this year be­cause they sim­ply did not have the mon­ey to do so.

Mean­while, in the Princes Town area, there has al­so been a de­crease in sales. 

Anisa Bac­chus the own­er of B’s Books and Crafty Things said, “The sea­son has been very slow. Peo­ple are buy­ing house­hold and gro­cery items. Not many toys are be­ing sold. We are see­ing a flow of cus­tomers in the mar­kets. Peo­ple are buy­ing ne­ces­si­ties and af­ter buy­ing all they need, then they are look­ing for toys and gifts,” Bac­chus said.

She said busi­ness own­ers were look­ing for­ward to in­creased sales next week.