The Tribune

By ANNELIA NIXON

Tribune Business Reporter

anixon@tribunemedia.net

A SCHOOL uniform supplier yesterday pledged that parents will not face higher prices this summer despite mounting shipping costs and global supply chain disruptions linked to increased fuel prices and Middle East tensions.

James Wallace, owner and operator of Janaees Uniform Centre, said the retailer has made a deliberate business decision to absorb increased freight expenses rather than pass them on to customers, even after being forced to pay premium shipping charges to secure inventory in time for the upcoming school year.

“It’s not happening in Janaees,” he said. “We are not doing that, despite the cost. Janaees is taking a business decision not to pass the increased fuel cost on to the customers.

“We’ve decided that we’re keeping the prices that we had last year with regards to our margins. We did have a challenge this year where we literally had to pay a premium to get the containers on the ship. So that has been a challenge for us, but we have no intentions of passing that cost on to the customers.”

Mr Wallace’s comments come as Bahamian retailers continue to face higher freight and transportation expenses driven by elevated fuel costs. Other retailers have warned that while suppliers have largely held product prices steady, rising shipping charges are placing increasing pressure on retailers’ margins and could result in higher Back-to-School costs for consumers.

Janaees, however, appears to have escaped the worst of those pressures for this year because its inventory was ordered well in advance. Mrr Wallace said the company’s manufacturing orders were placed during 2025, allowing it to lock in production costs before more recent inflationary pressures emerged.

“We’ve seen some increases on some of our production costs,” he said. “But fortunately for us, the timing of those production costs and where we started the production, we don’t see them as having a significant impact because our orders were placed in 2025. So the prices were locked in.”

The retailer is, however, monitoring international developments closely, warning that the current geopolitical uncertainty could have implications for future school uniform pricing. “I would imagine that for 2026, which means it’s for the 2027 Back-to-School season, that we will probably see price movement,” Mr Wallace said.

He added that Janaees begins planning for the next school year almost immediately after the current season ends. “We order for next school year in September,” he said. “It’s right here. We literally place our orders by October.

“I think we may see some impact from this Iran war in our next year’s sales, but not this year’s sales. We don’t see it because of the timing of our orders. But I can’t speak to the 2027 Back-to-School season. It’s a bit early.”

His comments follow reports that the retailer experienced shipping disruptions this year due to delays moving containers from China. The company ultimately had to pay for a premium service to secure space aboard vessels amid ongoing disruptions to international shipping routes.

Despite those challenges, Mr Wallace said Janaees expects to have sufficient inventory available before the traditional Back-to-School shopping rush begins. He disclosed that the company currently has three containers at sea and expects them to arrive before demand reaches its peak in August.

“As far as we’re concerned, the scheduled arrival of those containers will not negatively impact our sales because we expect them at the end of this month,” he said. “And us typical Bahamians don’t really shop until August.

“So we will have the inventory in hand to supply 95 percent of the schools in this country, and in the volume that people will require.” Rather than worrying about shortages, Mr Wallace said the bigger challenge is managing the heavy concentration of shoppers who traditionally wait until the final weeks before school reopens.

“If the customers understand the challenge in terms of the time to get it to them, in terms of having to wait in the store for items to be moved when we have 50 customers in the store, everybody looking for practically the same thing, and whoever was first in the morning took them off the shelf, and now we have to put them back on the shelf, they will be fine,” he said.

To help spread customer traffic more evenly throughout the summer, Janaees has launched a 20 percent-off promotion. Mr Wallace described the initiative as less about boosting sales and more about improving customer service.

“We have a sale that we’re currently running, 20 percent off,” he said.

“Would you believe that is a sale predominantly to encourage people to shop early? 

“We’re literally paying customers to shop early because there’s no reason for us to start a sale when school just closed. And we’re saying, ‘Help us to help serve you better’ by taking advantage of a discount now.

“That’s the reason why we run the sale in June, because we’re trying to spread out the number of people coming into the store.” He said the strategy appears to be working, with more families beginning their Back-to-School shopping earlier than usual, although he expects many Bahamians will still wait until August before making their purchases.