Love sales pick up

After a year of no major Valentine’s Day shopping due to the COVID-19 pandemic Barbadians went out in their numbers on Monday as restrictions were eased.

Following the announcement on the weekend that restrictions will be lifted on Monday, people flocked to stores to get their Valentine’s Day  gifts and outfits. They also made a number of bookings for restaurants and other venues.

When Barbados TODAY took to The City today, a number of store owners and vendors in Swan Street reported bumper sales.

Managing Director of Imperial Gifts and Balloons in City Centre Mall, Althea Welch said while she started preparing her Valentine’s Day display since last week, the past few days have been hectic as she worked around the clock to meet special orders.

“We have a lot of fruit baskets, gift baskets, gifts in balloons, teddy bears in balloons, roses, chocolates and gift bags ready to go. We also have gift wrapping done here.

“It has been a lot of work for me. Sunday night I was here until 11:30 trying to get out the orders. This Valentine’s I find has been very successful for me. I thank all of my customers, I only get to see them once a year at Valentine’s because they always come back to me,” Welch said.

Coral Joseph, one of the several vendors advertising her Valentine’s Day gift sets on Swan Street, said she has noticed that Barbadians seem to be showing keen interest in the “love day” this year.

“People are coming, they are looking, they are buying. I find that people are really interested in Valentine’s Day this year and I feel that is because last year at this time nobody was in Swan Street,” Joseph said.

Meanwhile, Wendy Boyce of Mates Variety, also on Swan Street, said while she has recorded favourable sales, she has noticed that majority of persons have opted to purchase reasonable gift sets.

“People want reasonable things to buy. If the sets are reasonable and they look good people would buy them. We sold a lot of sets Saturday and this morning a lot more sold. Last year for Valentine’s we still did well because we had our sets online and people were coming to the house and buying them. So, we did pretty good last year too,” Boyce said.

Woolworth’s Managing Director Martin Bryan reported decent Valentine’s Day sales for 2022.

In fact, Bryan said Woolworth was sold out of roses, teddy bears and other popular items.

“Last couple of days, like Thursday, Friday, Saturday, were busy. Today not so much because it is really Valentine’s Day and really last minute for anyone coming in to get Valentine’s items. But we still have some left. So, I would say Valentine’s was decent. There was nothing going on last year so you are comparing to zero,” Bryan said.

“Now that all the protocols seem to be easing, life seems to be returning to normal and when you see life returning to normal people’s spirits lift. It is like you are seeing light at the end of the tunnel, finally. So hopefully that means jobs, money, the economy spinning, people positive, people working and all that is good,” Bryan added.

Barbados TODAY also visited a few restaurants during the day where employees were busy preparing to respond to strong bookings.

anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb