The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

“Christmas Eve will tell the tale” for one retailer as this Christmas sales season is certainly better than last year, but it is still not quite at 2019 levels.

Tanya Bain, retail manager at the Perfume Bar, told Tribune Business that she attributes the Christmas decorations as the core reason why tourists are leaving the cruise ships to come downtown to shop for Christmas gifts for their loved ones.

Ms Bain said: “All in all things are beginning to turnaround. So, we’re hoping that this is the beginning of a new 2022.”

This year was supposed to be the breakout year for retailers coming the disastrous 2020 when most businesses were either forced to close down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, or were forced into extreme COVID-19 restrictions including curb side service, online or delivery service. Despite those efforts things had not worked out very well under those COVID-19 restrictions in 2020 so retailers are hoping the economy begins to turnaround.

When comparing this Christmas season with 2019, Ms Bain said: “I think sales are still down by about 20 percent from 2019, but we have a few more days to go in December before Christmas Day. Christmas Eve tells the tale, so if we see the same numbers as we did in 2019 then we can definitely say we have turned the corner.”

Ms Bain also said, however, the success of her downtown stores is not translating to the stores throughout the rest of the island.

“The other stores are still struggling because a lot of them depend on local shoppers,” she said. “That’s where the bulk of their money comes from. While a lot of people have gone back to work, a lot are still not working or are just going back to work during the holidays.”

Madeline Dean, store manager at Body Beautiful in the Mall at Marathon, said: “I think this Christmas season has been quite successful, but I don’t think it is as successful as 2019 but we are certainly a lot better than 2020. “

Carol Rollins, general manager of Fashion on Broadway in the Mall at Marathon said: “Things are going pretty well. But before the pandemic we had a little more sales, but we still aren’t doing too bad.

She said the business is just 10 percent down compared with 2019, Ms Rollins.

“We have been handling our customers with care, we are doing our best,” she said.

“We have the sanitizer here for them and if it gets too crowded we limit the amount of people we have coming inside.”

Most of Fashion Broadway’s Christmas items came in ahead of schedule this year which helped in avoiding widespread supply chain shortages and challenges with shipping.

Another Mall at Marathon shop owner, wanting to speak under condition of anonymity, said things are “excellent” in her store. “We have a nice sale going on and we have been able to handle the customers coming into the store as a result of it.”