THE SIGNIFICANT DROP in sales in Swan Street, The City,which has forced a number of small stores to close, is yet anotherindication that all is not well with this island’s economy.
On Thursday, some of the remaining store owners there, along with several street vendors, spoke passionately about their struggle to survive in an environment where shoppers are spending less. And the former lamented that rents were making it almost impossible for them to continue.
One small store owner, Sharon Small of Genesis Touch, best captured the prevailing sentiment, relating that business had been so rough over the past year that she had to send home some workers.
“Small business owners are askingfor not only a decrease in the rent, but also for money to be trickling down tothe poor people, that we can have some money coming into our business,”Small declared.
Keann Walters owned Celebrity Base Boutique but, unable to pay the $3 000 rent, closed it two weeks ago and is now selling on the streets.
“People who have jobs and are being laid off . . . want relief. We cannot survive,” she said in a stirring appeal.
Their cries for help come nearly six weeks after Eddie Abed, managing director of Abed’s on Swan Street, had declared that the perfect financial storm was ripping the heart out of Bridgetown by destroying businesses and displacing workers. And he forecast then that by the end of May, another seven to ten City operations would be downsized and upto 50 workers affected.
Abed disclosed that February sales were down between 20 and 50 per cent, while for January and March, it was 10 to 25 per cent. And he noted that though no new buildings had been constructedin The City for some time, “there are presently 30 retail spaces availableand no less than seven buildings for sale”.
“The outlook in the short to medium term in terms of retail in Bridgetown in particular is not good,” he said.
What is the solution?
For Abed, one remedy is to put “some disposable income back into consumers’ hands – we need to get consumers consuming again”.
For Lalu Vaswani, president of the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI), the business environment will only improve when Government stops delaying taking corrective measures for the economy. Hence both his call last week for the Freundel Stuart administration to take immediate action by applying remediesto arrest the slide in the economy, andhis offer of the chamber’s support for the difficult decisions that Government needs to take as long as there is a transparent process.
While both these suggestions would give confidence to spur economic activity, the immediate survival of the small store owners may be helped by agreements with landlords to lower rents. After all, it would be better to get a smaller rent than none at all.
For sure, it is in the interest of everyone for there to be sufficient business activity to keep businesses operating and people employed. Everyone stands to lose if the opposite continues to occur.