The Tribune

By FAY SIMMONS

Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

Bahamian retailers yesterday reported a 15 percent increase in sales over the Christmas season despite higher inventory costs resulting from US tariffs raising concerns for small businesses.

Mark A. Turnquest, founder of the 242 Small Business Association and Resource Centre, said micro, small and medium-sized businesses across The Bahamas experienced a strong finish to the year with holiday sales exceeding expectations.

Speaking to Tribune Business, he said that while concerns over rising costs - particularly those resulting from tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump - had worried some business owners earlier in the year, the impact was less severe than anticipated and many merchants ended the season with solid profits.

“Year over year, it was better than last year. Sales were about 15 percent higher, so we did have a good year,” said Mr Turnquest “In reality, the tariff with Donald Trump didn’t create a sustainable challenge this year. For a couple of months - maybe June, July, and August - it was a big concern that the tariff would hit us hard in the latter part of the year, but that didn’t happen.”

He said that despite an increase in inventory costs, the rise in sales helped businesses maintain healthy profit margins.  “Purchasing costs went up, but sales were high enough to cover them. Our purchasing costs are still far less than our sales, which gave us a good profit that covered our expenses,” Mr Turnquest explained.

He added that electricity costs during 2025 were considerably lower for many businesses and, outside of a sharp increase during peak summer months, this did not “burden” small businesses. 

“The electricity bill was not a major factor. We had a slight increase in early summer and later in the season, but that was expected. If you use more electricity, you pay more. In terms of our overall margins, high electricity costs did not significantly affect our distribution of expenses. The electricity expense was not a burden as we had anticipated,” said Mr Turnquest. 

Other retailers echoed the positive outlook. A manager at Lorene’s described the holiday season as steady. “Things were pretty good. We haven’t gone through everything and run all the numbers, so I’m not sure exactly how well we did. But, I mean, things were good. It wasn’t horrible - we were happy,” they said.