Susan Smith, Staff Reporter
( L - R ) AMMAR AND OWENS
IT IS just a week before Christmas and some merchants have not decorated their stores yet: that tells the tale.
Many say the season is much slower than last year's because of a mountain of problems facing consumers. With the consumer dollar under pressure, retailers have seen their sales margins slashed, along with the pedestrian traffic they would normally see in their stores at this time.
Retailers blame the slide of the Jamaican dollar and increases in the General Consumption Tax, land taxes, insurance premiums, petrol, electricity, school fees, natural disasters and crime for the slow start this Christmas.
They say these factors combined have robbed consumers of their purchasing power because of their impact on inflation. Business confidence has also been eroded.
"There has been a dramatic downturn in business," said Owen Sinclair, owner and operator of Sinclair's Bargain Centre otherwise known as 'Hurry Hurry' in Westmoreland. He explained that his business has seen about a 50 per cent drop in sales.
"It's not like last year,' he said. "There is excessive taxes of people, they can't find money," added the business man who further explained that his store is void of Christmas lights because of the high electricity bill.
Stating that things have definitely picked up for his company, general manager of Ammar's and director at the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce Micheal Ammar Jr. said he has not seen the usual traffic on the streets expected at this time.
"Every year Christmas gets shorter and shorter because the money gets tighter and tighter and this year the economy is flat," he said. "I don't see an extended spending season."
And in the tourist resorts of Montego Bay and Ocho Rios the shopping pattern of consumers mirrors that of Kingston.
"There are a lot of people walking through but the spending is not as before," sales manager for Crichton Brothers Limited in Montego Bay, Dayan Ives said. "They are being cautious about their spending given the times. People are smarter with money."
Mr. Ives said this year has not been a good one for business and the last four months leading to Christmas have seen sales decline by 25 per cent.
General manager for F.W. Woolworth and Company Jamaica Limited in Ocho Rios, Carrol Edwards, said the traffic through her store looked less but the goods are more expensive so the actual dollar sales level had not fallen.
She said people shop at the last minute so she is hoping that the last-minute shopping will make up for the slow start in Christmas shopping. Mrs. Edwards believes the added competition also affects the traffic into stores.
"It started off slow. We are hoping for it to pick up as Jamaicans wait until the last minute to shop," said general manger for Azan Supercentre in downtown Kingston Christopher Walker. He said sales for that store have fallen and attributed a part of this to the increase in crime in Kingston and the tension associated with the Kraal trial now taking place in the centre of downtown Kingston.
The hope retailers generally share is that when consumers get their hands on their Christmas bonuses, sales will improve.
" I'm optimistic that the last few days will be good. I think the business confidence is low, but it's a season for miracles and we always pull off miracles," said Mr. Ammar. "The next ten days can either make or break a retailer. If the Government sticks to the Christmas programme and makes payments early in the month, it may make a difference."
