Shopping rush amid COVID surge as merchants stress protocols, nix shutdown idea

City store owners were Monday keeping a wary eye on the latest surge in coronavirus cases and aiming to maintain strong protocols for workers and customers while opposing a possible lockdown.

A leading businessman suggested that a future shutdown of the economy would “drive the nail into the coffin of many businesses”.

Managing Director of Abed’s, Eddy Abed, told Barbados TODAY that sales had been picking up in recent days as he underlined the importance of business still being allowed to remain open, even with the rising COVID numbers.

“If we shut down this country again, we would drive the nail into the coffin of many businesses, many individuals who depend on employment, many entrepreneurs, many small and medium size start-ups would not be able to recover,” said Abed.

“I don’t think that is an option we can even look at. The Prime Minister said it correctly, this is a marathon, it’s going to take a while to get there, and we have to respect that. This is not going to be over in six weeks’ time, it’s going to take a while.”

While the head of the COVID-19 Monitoring Unit, Ronald Chapman, shared concerns over the weekend concerning the stark rise in COVID numbers in workplaces, many store owners in The City were adamant that all protocols issued by the Ministry of Health are being followed to the letter.

Nancy Noumeh, who owns Sole Addiction Barbados, said her store had seen average sales for the month.  With COVID-19 cases rising almost daily, protocols within the store have remained a top priority, she said.

She told Barbados TODAY: “It’s picking up now that it’s the end of the month, and it’s expected to pick up even more after the 11-Plus [exam] results come out. Foot traffic has been pretty busy, getting a lot of people coming and looking around as well. We just received the majority of our stock last week, [and] we have a little more to come.

“We make sure that every customer has their temperature checked, we have hand sanitizer at the door, we spray the counter after every customer touches the credit card machines, we spray the area where they sit down, [and] we try to sanitize the entire store throughout the day.”

Location Manager at Duty Free Caribbean Barbados, Mark Clarke, also said sales so far have been doing well for back-to-school shopping, with the company constantly monitoring COVID-19 protocols in store to keep staff and customers safe.

“Our protocols in all of our Bridgetown Duty Free stores have always been tight, where the team members and our security ensure that both the staff and the customers adhere to all protocols,” said Clarke. “So far during the COVID pandemic, we have not had any incidences in store, so we will continue to maintain and tighten where necessary, but so far so good here at all of our stores.”

Despite a strong surge in coronavirus infections in recent weeks, which health officials suggest may be linked to the more highly contagious Delta variant, store owners in Bridgetown are still reporting good sales as the back-to-school season nears its end.

Managing Director at Woolworth, Martin Bryan, said that sales have picked up significantly in the last few days, compared to the earlier weeks of August.

“We have definitely seen an uptick in business I’d say from last weekend, into the weekend that just left us. We have like three weeks to go before back to school, so we are seeing more parents and kids coming out,” Bryan told Barbados TODAY. “We believe with the 11-Plus results due soon, that that is where we will be definitely seeing a rush, so it would appear that all systems are go in terms of going back to school.” (SB)