Slow end of year sales

Despite a busier than expected Christmas season, some clothing retailers are now feeling the pinch of slow sales.

On the final shopping day before the close of the year, when Barbadians can normally be found doing last-minute shopping for special outfits for Old Year’s Night events, minimal crowds were seen in The City.

Owner of Jayson’s clothing boutique, Chandru Thani, told Barbados TODAY that although the month of December had been a lot better than the rest of 2021 sales wise, the normally hectic Yuletide season was unusually slow overall.

“Thank God we survived it. It was not as bad as it was in the beginning of the month, things picked up with the grace of God so we are very grateful for that, and of course that big VAT-free day made a difference.

“For the Old Year’s Night, people are a bit conscious today and we did not do as we expected … for the four days, but the day is still young and things will pick up, I am sure, later down as a lot of people are last-minute,” he said.

Thani admitted that tourism in many respects has been helping with sales, as visitors continue to make their way into Bridgetown to shop; however, with supply chain issues still persisting for many retailers, 2022 sale predictions are currently unclear.

“We have not seen much of a trend yet, no change so far, but maybe slowly. There is a lot of tourism [coming back] to the island now; had quite a few tourists coming in. Maybe in January as things start to pick up, things should go better.

“Getting our supplies was a real problem. A lot of suppliers that used to send us things on time, they themselves did not have the stocks. So it is a chain that passes on – we bring stuff from nearby, we don’t go to China, but that affected everybody. There is no way to get away from it, and a lot of shipments got delayed. We have Christmas stuff that will be coming in in January.”

General Manager of Men’s Room at City Centre Mall, Rodney Alleyne, echoed Thani’s sentiments, saying that though sales did improve slightly for the month, and in particular on the VAT-free day, the overall outlook into 2022 continues to be uncertain.

“The VAT-free day was quite decent, not as explosive as we expected it to be, but it was quite decent. A lot of stock we would have liked to have gotten, we were unable to receive, and it did hamper us a little bit in our sales,” he said. (SB)