Workers fear “rough” season from store closure

Employees at the Liquidation Centre are still trying to come to grips with the fact that its doors will be closed once and for all.

A failed attempt by owner Asha Mrs Ram Mirchandani to gain a four-week extension, meant that the business was forced to close its doors for the last time late yesterday morning.

Officials from the Ministry of Housing along with law enforcement swooped in at the Lower Bay Street business this morning, signalling the end of its 26-year operations.

Asha ‘Mrs Ram’ Mirchandani

Faced with the possibility of unemployment, some workers who spoke to Barbados TODAY on condition of anonymity said it had been a hard pill to swallow.

One worker who worked at the store for over a decade said he didn’t know what he would do now.

“Government could have really let us stay open until next year. This is a rough time for someone to be out of a job with Christmas right around the corner.

“Even the unemployment benefits take a while before they come so it will be a really tough Christmas for some of us, including me,” he said.

Another worker said while he knew the business had to close because of the Hyatt, he didn’t anticipate it would have been so soon.

He said only recently Mrs Ram had told staff that Government was going to give them an extension.

“We thought we would have been opened for at least a couple more months. When I heard what was happening this thing made me feel real bad,” he said.

“It has been hard to process, that is the truth. These are hard times and jobs aren’t easy to find, so I will just have to do what I can.”

A female worker who has been there for the past seven years said she had taken the news hard.

She said she was leaving everything up to God.

“It’s in His hands now, there’s nothing more we can do. I have cried about it and I can’t cry anymore, so I just trust that God will take care of me and the other employees,” she said.
randybennett@barbadostoday.bb