The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

LOCAL retailers said yesterday that they were expecting back-to-school sales to escalate this weekend, with one retailer telling Tribune Business that sales this season were “definitely much slower” than in previous years.

“We just have to hope that we will see a pick-up this week end but sales have been a lot slower than in previous years,” said Darren Wong, manager at Book World and Stationers.

“People are really a lot more price conscious right now and may be travelling to the US to buy stuff. A lot of people are asking for donations but we can only do so much.” Mr Wong suggested that the introduction of Value-Added Tax and a drop in employment were among the factors that were affecting consumer confidence and sales locally.

Williams Higgs, manager at Sandy’s Mall at Marathon, told Tribune Business: “Sales are looking pretty good, I can’t complain. We had a good weekend and hopefully we will have a better week this week with school opening on Monday. People usually wait until the last minute or especially when they have the money.”

Gavin Watchorn, CEO at AML Foods, said: “You’re not really going to see that back-to-school rush until this weekend. Back-to-school, just like Christmas shopping, is very last minute

Charmaine Daley, sales manager at John’s Shoes and Accessories on Carmichael Road, described this year’s back-to-school sales as being steady. “We expect things to really pick up because of government pay day,” she said. “It’s a steady flow of sales right now but on the weekend we expect that to escalate seeing that Monday is right there and a lot of people like to wait until last minute.”

Traditionally, the back-to-school shopping period is viewed as the second busiest period of the year for many retailers behind the Christmas season.