Some Grand Bahamian merchants, who are already suffering as a result of difficult economic times, are bracing for what they expect to be a weak holiday shopping season.
“I’ve noticed that many people don’t seem to have funds and business is very slow,” Joseph Thompson, a business consultant for JT Family Shoe Store & Clothing, told The Bahama Journal.
“I’m sure it is due to the hurricane and people are still weathering financial problems or trying to make ends meet and trying to get their homes together. Who knows, maybe during the last two or three weeks in December you may see an upswing in business.”
He believes that it is important to buy Bahamian, especially in hard economic times.
“We hope regardless of the economy, people will still continue to support the local merchants instead of perhaps going away,” Mr. Thompson said.
“These are hard times for everyone right now and the job you save may be your own when you shop at home. It will help fuel the economy and it can perhaps help your family member stay with a job.”
Various economic reports have confirmed that the Grand Bahamian economy is facing a difficult period which officials say was triggered by hurricanes Frances and Jeanne last year and worsened by Hurricane Wilma this year.
The Central Bank said recently that tourist arrivals were down by nearly 20 percent up to September, and the Department of Statistics said unemployment on Grand Bahama increased from 9.3 percent in 2004 to 11 percent this year.
Ghassan Haddad, manager at Esquire Men’s Store, said that before Grand Bahama could make any significant progress it appears to stall and move backwards.
“When things are bad you say, ‘you take two steps forward and one step backwards’. Now with these three major hurricanes we’ve had we’re taking one forward and maybe two or three steps backwards and this is not good for anybody whether you’re merchant or anything else,” Mr. Haddad said.
“Being a merchant is very tough this year in business. We have one more month to go before the end of the year, so hopefully people would come and shop.”
Loren Wells-Delauze, proprietor and operator of Freeport Jewellers, Curiosity Shop, and Goldfinger Jewellers, told the Journal that the shopping season so far appears a lot slower than last year.
“To date it has been very, very slow compared to last year. Even though there were two hurricanes last year we feel [that] people started shopping a lot earlier,” Mrs. Wells-Delauze said.
But she said there is usually a lull in shopping at the beginning of December so it may be too early to tell what kind of season merchants will experience.
In an effort to encourage sales, some merchants say they are offering huge savings for shoppers.
“For seven weeks we’ve been promoting the campaign ‘buy one get an equivalent value for free’ in order to help the less fortunate during this time,” Mr. Thompson said.
Mr. Haddad from Esquire Men’s Store said sales and discounts have always been synonymous with his store during the holidays.
“We’ve been in this business for over 25 years and during the Christmas season we always have discounts and good sales so people don’t have to go to the States to buy,” he said.
“[During] most of [our] sales we have 50 percent [discounts] and we don’t do it for a day; we do it for weeks and weeks. Now we’ve been having a sale since September and that’s four months. We’ve been having sales just coming up to the holiday season.”
Mrs. Wells-Delauze said she has been doing her part as well to attract the local market.
“We’ve been offering 50 percent off,” she said. “We’ve been giving away a gift with purchases. We’re also doing a raffle for persons who spend over $150 or more. We’ve had a promotional evening. Another one is planned for Friday.”
Mrs. Wells-Delauze explained that the evening is planned to get people in the mood for Christmas, to get them shopping and thinking about gifts early.
Meanwhile, some Grand Bahamians have already decided that they will be cutting back significantly this holiday season.
Chivonne Fox, assistant reservation manager at the Our Lucaya Resort, said although she will be shopping as usual, this year she would be shopping less.
“I will be shopping less for two reasons,” Mrs. Fox said. “For one thing the economy is a little bit slow this year, as well as I’m in a new home now and I need to conserve more than I used to before.”
She added, however, “Once consumers are given good value for money they are going to shop at home-If I catch good sales here I would shop here at home. I feel the sales are going to be good, but other than that I’m going to do my shopping in the States.”
By: Daphne McIntosh, The Bahama Journal
