- Norman GrindleyA section of the huge crowd on Beckford Street, downtown Kingston, which braved the downpour yesterday.
Glenda Anderson, Staff Reporter
A HUGE throng of shoppers braved the teasing downpour, snarling traffic and overcrowded piazzas yesterday but their constant cry was either "no money," or "more money".
It's therefore a "hit or miss" shopping affair this Christmas as many persons seem to be trying to keep the cash close to home.
According to the latest Bank of Jamaica report, some $25 billion is in circulation this season. Some merchants claim that their earnings have shot up to more than 20 per cent over last year.
And the evidence of flowing funds is clear, despite the drizzle and the desire to be miserly.
Neither nature nor man-made chaos could keep many away from the dizzying jostle of activity downtown which saw police officers out in their numbers and swarms of persons dodging cars on overcrowded streets.
In a few stores in downtown Kingston, long lines of persons trying to enter, curled onto the walkways and blended with the sidewalk vendors and browsers. Along King Street, double lane traffic inched along as handcart men, JUTC passenger buses and cars vied for space.
A few shoppers, however, seemed to have been trapped by poor judgement.
"It's miserable," one distressed young man said, sheltering under a canopy of blue tarpaulins which lined the corner of Orange Street, "I just want to hurry up and get home. If I knew it was going to be like this I wouldn't have come out." He described a downtown frenzy which he felt surpassed other years. "I think it's better than last year though, more people are spending. I've never seen it like this before."
Others though, had only come for last-minute shopping before Christmas. One woman explained that while she really had to be downtown she was keeping it very simple, "I'm just buying enough food stuff so that I don't have to come back out," she said swinging plastic bags with produce from both arms, "the gift-giving and pretty-up thing is out for me this year. I have to think about January and save the money for the bills."
Still, the sea of hustling bodies that surged from sidewalks and spilled onto the streets, taking over storefronts and walkways was enough to challenge her story.
Dawn Chin, a clothes vendor and mother of 14 said she came back to Jamaica just five months ago. She said that while she was only trying to make some money for the holidays, business on the streets had been fairly brisk, "Everything selling now, but you think it bad now, wait 'til in the evening, you can't step."
But the real winners it seemed were the vendors on the streets, most of whom were literally having a field day with the upturn in sales. One shoe vendor along South Parade said that business had really been on the upswing but he expected it to be much better.
"Business good man, wi nah go home until Tuesday," he said.
The outlook was not as grand for some storeowners. Some complained of average sales, an inconsistent week, and a generally slow shopping crowd. Vicky Amin, manager of Miami Jewellers and Electronics on Orange Street, explained that this may have been linked to the after-effects of the September 11 attacks in the United States which had left many storeowners hanging in the loop due to limited stock.
"I know for many storeowners they had a hard time getting goods from Miami. The first thing many suppliers did after September 11 was that they stopped production, but then afterwards they couldn't keep up with demands. Luckily for me I had everything, but others were not so lucky."
Yet shoppers in general, he said, are being a lot more cautious, "Basically people have stopped buying expensive stuff and are sticking to the usual things around now like your small appliances, toasters, mixers and so on this season.
"Business has been down in comparison to last year, it's really not been as steady as it would have been around this time. But the problem may be that with everything that has happened people are not really in the buying mood."
Some items, however, had steady demand like children's toys and clothes, and electronics. Joan Ashman of Simplicity for Kids in Manor Park agreed with this assessment adding that sales have been "much, much slower than last year. We have been having a steady flow especially because of the things we sell, but nothing really excessive."
Over at Lerner Shop on King Street, owner Deepak Vaswani confirmed that while shoppers were cautious they were sticking to fashionable clothes. "There is no doubt that people are worried this season, because bills are short, but sales have picked up, all the days this week have been good."
Deno Wright, manager of Watts New on the Tropical Plaza, said that while things had improved nicely his setback had come from long waits at customs.
"Right throughout the year that's our problem with them. We always have a problem getting things in because they take such a long time to process through customs," he said.
