Bridgetown stores are hoping shoppers are “merry” with them this Christmas.
Cave Shepherd manager Andrew Wilkinson told a SUNDAY SUN team in The City yesterday that the store had already started offering discounts on Christmas decorations and other items, and was looking forward to a “bumper Christmas although the economy is quite challenging”.
“We expect a very exciting Christmas this year . . . . We have some new stock out and customers, even from three weeks ago, have been inquiring about [it],” said Wilkinson.
La Romana Jewels, opposite Cave Shepherd & Co., had even started its storewide Christmas special since November 15. Owner Lachmi Lalwani explained that the sale was early “because that is when the British come in, and they buy gifts for weddings and Christmas”.
She added: “A lot of people come early in the year and look at whatever they want and pay down.”
Abed’s Swan Street manager Suleiman Bulbulia reported that the Christmas shopping had begun two Saturdays ago when the store held a sale for Bridgetown Alive. However, he noted that as the difficult economic times continued, the trend of early Christmas shopping for household items was becoming a thing of the past.
“We have new items on sale, and still have a few more to bring into the store next week. We are optimistic that those items will transition into sales,” he said.
The SUNDAY?SUN team caught up with shopper Waveny Butcher, who has been planning for Christmas since October. Making reference to herself as a “Christmas baby”, said she had already bought everything for the season except groceries. She will hit the supermarket in mid-December.
“I just bought the curtains today; I put up my Christmas tree yesterday [Friday] . . . . I will start to put away the house, and by a particular date I must be finished,” Butcher boasted.
Jo-anne Bynoe put up and decorated her Christmas tree yesterday morning, and was in Bridgetown by midday shopping for decorations to add her touch to a friend’s Christmas tree. She was almost ready for December 25.
“On Christmas morning, the family will be going to church, and then heading to Queen’s Park. And then we will enjoy our annual Christmas family luncheon,” Bynoe said.
The green pea vendors were also out along Swan Street. The women sang hymns as they shelled and packaged the commodity, and shoppers stopped to purchase the Bajan delicacy at $10 a pack.
Among the pea sellers was Olivia Ifill, who indicated that “around this time people start buying and freezing the peas because they will be scarce by Christmas”.
“I sell throughout the year,” she said, “but I get better sales at Christmas time. People started to buy up the peas since last month. All now I have an order for ten packs, but I ain’t see the lady come yet.” (AH)
