VAT holiday triggers increased sales in the north

Some store operators in Speightstown, St Peter are expecting better sales this Christmas shopping period after a year of depression.

Moreover, some of those who took part in the Value Added Tax (VAT) free day on Monday told Barbados TODAY both residents and visitors have been able to take advantage of the tax ease, which added to the favourable sales so far for the Yuletide season.

In fact, Beauty Exchange Manager Faye Maxwell told Barbados TODAY the VAT holiday made a major difference to what sales would have been otherwise.

She said far from the wait and see approach employed last year leading up to Christmas Day, there has been a lot more activity in the northern town.

“Things started to pick up from the first Sunday in December. It is not bad. One and two days may be a little quiet but from Thursday last week sales have been pretty good,” she reported.

Maxwell recalled that last year sales were good until the Prime Minister announced a curfew and then “the store got empty”.

However, she quickly pointed out that this year was the opposite, with sales increasing once officials announced on December 15 that fetes and large entertainment events were allowed with special protocols including patrons being fully vaccinated or presenting a negative rapid antigen test to check for the virus.

“This year after they dropped certain measures and people knew they could go somewhere they started to buy certain things. If you are not going anywhere you are not buying anything,” said Maxwell.

Noting that Beauty Exchange took part in the VAT holiday experience on Monday, she said “The sales were up, so it was level with what we were having on the weekend.”

Also taking part in the VAT holiday one-day experience was department store Do It Best.

Store Manager for the Speightstown branch Joseph Medes told Barbados TODAY both locals and tourists came looking for bargains.

He said he believed it was a good gesture and something he would support annually.

“I support it. I think it is good for the customers to have it annually,” he said.

“It was busy yesterday. I think people took the advantage of having the VAT off and we even saw our tourists staying on island who actually asked for it as well. It was a good gesture for Government to do and I think it made a difference to the public to have a savings. I think they did appreciate it,” said Mendes.

In relation to overall Christmas shopping, he said while this year was not like years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, people were still making some purchases.

“It is relatively okay. I wouldn’t say it is spectacular, but people actually came out [on Monday] and made a difference by taking advantage of the savings. So we actually saw the extra customers yesterday that we haven’t seen before,” he  said.

One clothing store operator told Barbados TODAY the VAT holiday “wasn’t too bad”, adding that for the Yuletide season shopping “sales have been down compared to other Christmases”.

One man who took advantage of the VAT holiday on Monday said he welcomed the move, adding that he believed it should be an annual event to encourage more shopping.

“If you think about it, Speightstown for example, these people don’t get a lot of sales otherwise during the year. So having something like what we did on Monday was a welcomed experience for many of them. I came out and did most of my shopping then,” he said.

“I am here today again because there are still a few items I need to get, but a VAT holiday sounds like something we need in Barbados regularly. The pandemic has everybody looking for deals because we just don’t have money like before – some people out of work and a lot of people had pay cuts. It is not easy so a VAT holiday is something that I support fully. Even the tourists came out looking for the bargains yesterday,” he added. marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb