The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

BACK-to-school suppliers say they did not see the typical customer volumes ahead of this week’s return to the classroom.

James Wallace, owner/ operator of Janaees Uniform Centre, told Tribune Business that since it was confirmed that the public schools will return to the classroom today for a mixture of in-person and virtual learning, parents have been coming to the retailer for supplies. However, many have been given too little time to prepare how they would like.

Mr Wallace said: “We have inventory that’s from last year. We sold out of a couple of items, but we still have some challenges with a shipment that we’re trying to get in. But other than that, everything is going fine.”

“It surprised me how quickly they made a decision because they really only gave parents two days’ notice for school to start on Monday.”

Schools are scheduled to reopen today amid a growing outcry from concerned parents about how the COVID-19 pandemic, and switch to virtual learning, has damaged their children’s education. Public schools were originally scheduled to reopen on January 11, but this was postponed for two weeks due to concerns over the rise in COVID-19 cases associated with the Omicron variant.

Mr Wallace added: “With the children at home over the holiday, eating all of the ham and turkey, they haven’t been to school in a whole, so the parents are sort of caught up in a challenge with uniform, but that’s great for people like me.

He thinks customers are going to be purchasing school uniforms well into the third week of the reopening because “people were caught off guard”, adding: “But I’m not sure what level of uniform requirements schools are asking for now. They may not be so strict on the mandatory school uniforms.”

Uhura Woodside, manager at Nassau Stationers, said: “We haven’t seen a lot of people come into the store as yet. It’s still early and students don’t know what assignments they will be given, so they don’t know what books to get.

“Normally we would have a wave of people in the week during school opens because at that time they would have their lists, but due to COVID-19 that has now changed. We have to wait until they get settled and see who is doing hybrid school or not. Then, I guess, their teachers will give them directives from there.”