Warriors ‘fever’ breaks in PoS

That “fever” finally broke yesterday as sales of anything associated with the Warriors dropped in Port-of-Spain. Businesses tried their best to capitalise on those buyers who still had symptoms of the fever.

The sea of red, seen all over Port-of-Spain in support of the Soca Warriors, turned into hues of blue, green, yellow and other colours, as people conducted their business around the capital.

A few stores still had red, white and black displays although there were no Soca Warrior items available.

One store owner was spotted changing her patriotic window display to a multi-coloured arrangement of clothing.

She said since the TT team “came to an end” after Tuesday’s game against Paraguay, she had decided to “bring her display to an end.”

Another patriotic vendor, at Henry Street, had a different take on the matter.

Referring to himself as the “Soca Warriors salesman”, the vendor, who only gave his name as Terry, said although sales were not as he had expected, he would remain a “Soca Warrior till death”.

He said he had purchased hundreds of T-shirts, flags and bags for resale at the corner of Henry and Queen Streets but TT supporters usually purchased items a day or two before a game.

He said during the football craze he often had to make additional purchases every two weeks. Terry, who sold only sneakers before joining the Soca Warriors bandwagon, had become a popular choice for football items because of his affordable prices. He said he planned to continue his display until all his items sold out or else he would take them to New York, where he expected better sales.

Ashaki Pierre reported “great sales” for her football items in the past weeks.

At her “Culture” booth on the site of the former People’s Mall, Frederick Street, Pierre sold belts, wristbands, pins, hats, T-shirts, bandanas and other Soca Warriors memorabilia. She said she restocked about twice weekly during the Soca Warriors craze and sold out several times. She said the hottest item seemed to be the T-shirts which sold from $70 to $150 and she expected to sell the remainder of her stock by the end of the month.

Popular sports store, Sports and Games, Chacon Street, yesterday remained with only a few football T-shirts on display. The manager of the store said they had purchased items “a bit late” into the football frenzy so they never had to restock.

He told Newsday the store has a “World Cup sale” on and business has been steady. He expected the balance of Soca Warriors items to be sold by the end of the month.