Customers just not buying, say business execs

Despite the country being fully re-opened, businesses in Barbados are struggling.

The situation has led to reduced opening hours for some with owners complaining of a significant decline in the number of customers patronizing their businesses.

President of the Barbados Private Sector Association (BPSA) Edward Clarke told Barbados TODAY businesses from all sectors were being affected, as shoppers were simply not spending.

One such business forced to shorten its hours was Emerald City Supermarket.

Rather than the old opening hours of 7 a.m. to 10:01 p.m. it now closes at 7 p.m.

Managing Director Andrew Bynoe explained that there were simply not enough customers.

“The trade is not there, very simple,” Bynoe added.

He said there had been a drop off in business since the island was re-opened. He also had no idea how long those shortened hours would be maintained.

Trimart Supermarket in Rendezvous has also shortened its hours, closing at 9 p.m. instead of 10:01 p.m.

A boutique owner who asked to remain anonymous also admitted that business was extremely slow.

As a result, he said he was forced to reduce his operating hours and shorten the days for staff.

“The country is open but people aren’t spending. I’m hoping that when the parties and events kick into high gear that people will start to spend some money, but for right now things are very, very slow.”

Clarke said he was not at all surprised by the developments.

He explained that even though the country had re-opened for business, the absence of the tourism sector and thousands of jobs due to COVID-19 were determining factors.

“I think it is quite clear that business is far from pre-COVID. You cannot remove the tourism sector of the economy and reasonably expect businesses to remain the same. So many people are still unemployed and the business is just not there and the spendable income is just not there and people are not spending at the level they did pre-COVID,” Clarke said.

“We just don’t have the customer base as well. When you consider the number of visitors to the island and the number of restaurants, hotels and suppliers across the island that would meet that demand it’s just not there right now.

“As a result businesses have been trying to open, stay open and keep the businesses flowing, but obviously look at controlling their costs. A big part of cost is labour as you would imagine in Barbados and utilities, so that is a significant reason I would imagine for reducing the opening hours.

“There just isn’t the customer base right now to support longer hours. I think you will probably see even shorter hours on weekends so it is a matter of the customer base,” he added.

Clarke maintained that a drive throughout Barbados would reveal that business was “dead” right now.

He said owners were currently struggling to keep their businesses afloat while at the same time preserving jobs.

“It is the reality and it is the situation post-COVID. We just don’t have the economy right now to create the demand for the business, hours that people used to have before, so what they are trying to do is give people reasonable opening hours that they can supply the customer base and supply the demand, but it is just not there to support the cost of operation for longer opening hours at this time,” Clarke noted.

He said ZRs, the Transport Board and other players in the transport sector were also feeling the effects.

Clarke said he was hoping business would pick up by yearend.

However, he insisted this was dependent on how the country dealt with COVID-19 now that the borders had been re-opened.

He said the improvement of the US market was also an important factor.

“I am hopeful that things will pick back up. The Government is trying to stimulate the economy and we in the private sector are trying to do different things and the small business people are trying to do different things, but you have a huge chunk of the economy not operating and you don’t just replace that overnight,” Clarke said.

“I am hopeful that by the end of the year we will see a positive pickup but a lot of that depends on how COVID-19 goes, how we as a country react to the protocols and how the visitors we are trying to attract react to our protocol requirements.

“We are not seeing good signs from up north and that is worrying for us in the private sector because unless we see a significant improvement in the USA environment, trying to attract those visitors is going to be a different ball game,” he conceded.

randybennett@barbadostoday.bb