Stores report good Valentine’s Day sales

By Anesta Henry 

Businesses in Bridgetown registered favourable Valentine’s Day sales on Tuesday, with several of them reporting being extremely busy over the past few days.

When a Barbados TODAY team visited The City, storeowners and sales representatives said that this year, shoppers had been purchasing roses, flowers, chocolates and teddy bears more than they had since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some reported that people started buying red and white clothing as early as a few weeks ago.

Owner of Imperial Gifts and Balloons at City Centre Mall, Althea Welch, said although she received early orders for gift packages, she noticed a general uptick in sales from Monday.

“It was very busy yesterday, all day; straight through until the evening I [was] going. People have been buying a lot of live roses, wines, fruit baskets, chocolates and a lot of gift bags that are already finished, and I find that they like a lot of balloons as well. 

“This is the best Valentine’s Day since COVID. I am very grateful, very thankful to God; he is the provider,” Welch said as she prepared a fruit basket.

Owner of Accent and Decor, Cristiana Douglas, showed off her male and female gift sets on a beautifully decorated table. 

She said that on Monday, she sold several teddy bear gift sets but she expected an increase in sales when people rushed to make last-minute purchases after school and work on Tuesday.

“I have the watch sets and cologne for men and I also have the journal and colognes for men. We have tote bags for ladies with teddy bears and chocolates and non-alcoholic wine. Sales have not been going bad. Yesterday was good but I know that later today things will get busy,” said Douglas who added that this had been the best Valentine’s Day business in quite some time.

Sales representative at Blessings Boutique Dazia Beckles, who was standing outside the Swan Street store in her red and white outfit, holding a big bunch of balloons, said sales have been consistent but not “as extremely busy as previous years”.

“But we at Blessings Boutique always bring our A game when it comes to Valentine’s and all the other seasons, so people look for us. Probably like two days ago people would have started to purchase more clothes than anything else.

“So, people were looking for a lot of red for Sunday school and the different lunches and brunches and stuff like that. And then sales would have increased from yesterday for gifts like bears and chocolates and balloons and stuff,” Beckles said.

She added that this year, it appeared parents were shopping for gifts for their children more than “adults for relationships”.

Meanwhile, sales associate at Highly Favoured Boutique on Swan Street, Shakira Leacock, said that most of their customers began their shopping over the weekend.

She said that in light of the economy, the store provided customers with gifts of various price options. 

(anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb)