Christmas cash registers ring up

White gold, diamonds and hi-tech stuff are just some of the items on the wish lists of adult consumers this Christmas season. For the children, those massive remote control trucks and cars, big play pens, puzzles and the Lego sets are Santa’s orders. For several store owners and managers, Christmas sales this year are finally picking up. Another big seller, according to merchants, was tech-items, especially the iPod from Apple. These items are by no means easy to obtain, in fact, a simple remote control toy can cost a consumer up to $1,000, and perhaps even more. The iPod can leave a dent in your pocket to the tune of TT$1,500 Of course,   toys are not made the way they once were, and some of them come with the ability to be fully customised, and even complete with tool kit and accessories.

Apart from the usual gift shopping there are those consumers who enjoy shopping for household items, and this is reflected in the mass of people that gather in fabric stores, hardware stores,  and in general merchandise stores, not only in Port-of-Span, but in other parts of the island as well. Delivery trucks, according to one manager of a top furniture store, now had to make deliveries past midnight. “It’s really good for us this year,” he said, noting that they had to get extra trucks and more staff.  Another manager said the pace of shopping had finally started to pick up after a rather sluggish season. Even while store owners and managers may be complaining of slow sales this Christmas season, there still remains the faithful Christmas shoppers who brave the city streets to get their Christmas shopping done on time.

Charlotte Street, one of the main arteries of the city where vendors have been read the riot act, still remains a magnet for shoppers. “It’s the only place I can get this mirror for $350,” one customer said, as she pointed to the object being loaded on a truck. For this past month, managers have been complaining about low Christmas sales but with a few days remaining, shoppers are ringing up the cash registers. In Port-of-Spain, President of the Downtown Owners and Merchants Association (DOMA), Gregory Aboud, said that sales in the city during November were slow. He noted that there were marginal increases and a slight improvement in sales after  increased security measures were taken in the capital in November. DOMA had charged that Charlotte Street had become a haven for criminals. Aboud said before the week’s end shoppers would return, and soon enough they would return to the city to do their shopping.

Aboud also mentioned that while the streets of Port-of-Spain were not overflowing with anxious shoppers, there was an increase in consumer activity in several suburban malls. At Trincity Mall, customers said they were now making the rounds. One of the reasons proposed for this increase in sales in malls was the added security and comfort that mall shoppers are afforded. People said they shied away from the streets this year because of the crime. “It’s safe, air-conditioned, and everything you want is under one roof,” is how one customer put it. “You get in and out,” said another.
In the borough of Chaguanas, sales are still sluggish. Store owners and managers cited the closure of Caroni 1975 Limited, and the threat of pickpockets as being responsible for a slight drop in their Christmas sales.

Chaguanas business people said that most of the shoppers visiting their stores were in fact outside of the borough, as the usual shoppers from the surrounding areas have been stricken with disasters such as flooding, causing them to pass on Christmas shopping to secure their homes instead. Reports from the southern part of Trinidad indicate the same trend, as shoppers shied away from any major Christmas spending even this week. That might soon change as customers shrug off Scrooge. In spite of  the slow progress of sales, some business people still remained hopeful that there would be a rise in sales due to last minute shopping. Others however, remained sceptical as they say even if there is an increase in last minute Christmas shopping, this still would not compensate for the sales lost for the entire season.