The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMIAN retailers looking to boost sales with their own version of the popular American ‘Black Friday’ tradition have reported a noticeable uptick in business, one telling this newspaper that business had picked up as much as 50 per cent due to the promotion.

Black Friday, the day following Thanksgiving in the US, traditionally marks the beginning of the Christmas shopping season, and has become known as a time when retailers offer significantly low prices on items such as electronics, with frenzied customers rushing stores to capitalise on bargains.

While many Bahamians also travel to the US every year for Black Friday, some local retailers have been using the shopping tradition to generate more business ahead of the Christmas shopping period.

Charmaine Smith, a manager at Shayne’s Department Store on Carmichael Road, told Tribune Business: “Business picked up since Thursday. So far the promotion has been going very well. We have been seeing more customers coming in.

“Customers are coming in and finding things that they didn’t know we had. I would say that business has picked up 50 per cent compared to what we would normally get.”

Franshecka Hayling of MiCrew, a men and ladies clothing boutique, said: “We definitely have seen an increase in customer traffic. It’s difficult to really say how much of an increase it has been but it has been quite noticeable”.

Timothy Kelly, inventory specialist at Custom Computers in the Harbour Bay Shopping Plaza, said: “There’s been quite a steady flow of traffic through the entire plaza today, quite a bit of traffic. A lot of businesses are doing promotions. BTC is doing a promotion and Fresh Market has something going on. We’ve seen about 100 customers come through today. There’s definitely a heavier flow of people.”

Another retailer told Tribune Business: “We’ve definitely seen more traffic, a bit more business I would say, due in most part to the promotion. It’s a nice little boost for us and hopefully this kind of thing would catch on where people would spend more money at home.”