HARDEN CUSTOMERS

RHIANNA MCKENZIE

RELIEF at finally being able to reopen turned into exasperation at several retail outlets in Port of Spain on Monday, as businessmen reported having a real struggle to ensure customers adhered to basic anti-covid19 rules.

Customers flocked to stores and malls early Monday morning after the Prime Minister announced on Saturday the reopening of retail businesses as part of a controlled, gradual resumption of normal activities for the country which was shut down for over a month because of the covid19 pandemic.

Businesses were allowed to reopen on Monday with the understanding that certain anti-covid19 measures would be implemented to try and minimise any spread of the virus which is still running rampant in many countries across the world.

These rules, such as sanitising customers’ hands as they enter a businessplace and ensuring physical distancing inside shops – even if it means keeping some customers in a line outside until those inside finish their shopping and leave – are part of the Health Ministry’s “New Normal” campaign in order to strike a balance between resuming normal activities and ensuring the virus does not spread.

When Newsday checked on businesses along several streets in the capital, including Frederick Street, Queen Street and Duke Street, many pedestrians were seen walking without their face masks on. Others wore the masks but it was pushed down below their chins.

While very happy for the enthusiastic response, businessmen said they and their staffers faced a torrid time trying to get customers to comply with personal anti-covid19 rules.

“Lord father, I had a hard time at the door trying to keep them out,” said Kristina’s shoe store manager Joan Sookdeo. She said customers were ready to come in even before the doors opened, and some tried to enter in clusters of more than the recommended five people at one time. “Some were steupsing at me when I told them they had to physical distance,” she said.

She said it was made clear to customers that they had to sanitise their hands upon entry and they would not be allowed to enter the store without a face mask on.

“Some people were getting angry, but this is as they are saying, the new norm. They are supposed to be accustomed with it by now.”

She said her customers could not wait for the Frederick Street store to reopen and many had messaged her during the lockdown asking when the store would reopen. “I think everybody need shoes on their feet to go to work so (customers) were looking forward to the reopening.”

At Tony’s Place, a kiosk which sells cellphone accessories inside Excellent City Centre, Tia Thomas said the mall’s management was very strict that customers had to sanitise their hands on entering and no one would be allowed in without a mask. This, she said, caused problems.

“There was an argument about face masks today with some customers,” she said. “Who didn’t want to wear it yet wanted to enter the mall. It was bacchanal for so.” Despite the exchange between errant, non-compliant customers and the store’s security, business was good throughout the day. “A lot of sales today, a lot of people needed their phones today,” she said.

She said the potential for catching the virus is something she worries about and is sure other workers are worried about as well. “I have children home (but) at the same time, after so much time home, I had to pay my mortgage. I had to come out…It’s time to come back and make money.”

At another store in the Excellent City Centre, a clerk who asked not to be identified said she was very concerned about customers not adhering to the rules. “Plenty people were coming in and not wearing their masks,” she said. “Only when they realised they had to wear it in order to get service, did they then pull out masks from their pockets and bags and put it on. But when they left the mall, they took off the masks,” the clerk said.

Along the Brian Lara promenade, at 11am, there were mixed scenes with some people obeying the rules and wearing masks and not congregating, but there were others brazenly doing the opposite. Efforts to reach Gregory Aboud of the Downtown Owners and Merchants Association (DOMA), for feedback on how the first day of a resumption of business activities went, proved futile as calls to his cellphone were not answered.

Head of the Port of Spain Division, Snr Supt Daniel Moore said that despite an increased volume of drivers and pedestrians in the city, there were no reports of criminal activity, which he attributed to an increased police presence with officers either in foot or mobile patrols throughout the day.

He said the police’s heightened presence in Port of Spain and in other centres of commercial activities throughout the country is part of a post-covid19 plan aimed at maintaining law and order.

(Additional reporting by SHANE SUPERVILLE)