Steady pedestrian traffic but slow business in Chaguanas

As Trinidad and Tobago’s retail sector fully reopened on Monday, retailers along the Chaguanas Main Road reported a slow start to business.

When Newsday walked along the main road on Monday, there was a steady flow of pedestrian traffic.

But that didn’t quite translate into high foot traffic for businesses, as retailers told a different story.

Manager of JPS Hair World Kevon Persad told Newsday he wasn’t surprised business was sluggish at his store. He pointed out that it offers products for use by beauty salons and hairdressers, which are closed until next Monday.

“So far it is looking a little slow. Everybody first week might be slow.

“Still, we’re thankful that work has started back and everything would start to flow again so we can make some money.”

Newsday visited the store an hour after it reopened and at that time, Persad reported just $15 in sales.

Even though Christmas is still a few months away, he is already looking forward and hoping business will continue to improve towards that time.

“It should start to pick up, as Christmas is right around the corner. We’re hoping things pick up for Christmas,” said Persad.

A worker at Judy’s Variety Store said businesses shouldn’t be surprised if they had a slow start.

With covid19 affecting people’s ability to spend, the worker said businesses should consider that people are prioritising and spending their money on necessities like food, as opposed to clothes.

She told Newsday, “People not rushing to buy anything…remember, food prices gone up. Remember that right now a pound of pigtail is $55.

“I selling clothes and shoes. So if people have to choose between buying shoes, clothes and food…which one they’ll choose first? Not food?”

During the period of the store’s closure, she said they took online orders and made home deliveries. She said this was necessary to secure the financial state of the store’s staff, which was dire .

La Toya Alleyne is the manager of Miguel Moses’s Chaguanas branch.

Alleyne told Newsday all the store’s staff, including herself, were happy to be working again.

“It’s very great to be back out, because we lost income for so long, and it was very hard. Everybody is happy to be back out, because no money was coming in.”

When Newsday arrived shortly before 10 am on Monday, Alleyne said people were visiting but not necessarily buying.

She explained, “So far people are coming in but not really buying much. But they are coming in, because it’s the first time the store has been opened in so long.

“They are glad to come, see what we have and what they need, so when they have money they can come back and buy.

“People need stuff. After being locked down for so long, people need curtains, sheets and a lot of stuff.”

Alleyne thinks the upcoming Divali and Christmas holidays will help boost sales.

“I thinking positive…I’m not studying delta and all those things. I’m thinking positive and believe that some people have been saving just to buy stuff.

“Once you think positive, the positive energy will follow.”

At Step in Style clothing store, Shirley Ragoonanan told Newsday she felt good to be working again especially after being at home for so long.

With all the store’s workers vaccinated and strict covid19 preventative measures in place, Ragoonanan said they are looking forward with hope.

Ragoonanan told Newsday, “It was so nice to come back out to work and I feel more energised.

“We now come out, so it (sales) wouldn’t pick up right now…maybe later on in the week.”

A worker at Jus Rite clothing store is happy that the store is reopened, telling Newsday there was no need for retail stores to have been closed so long.

Noting that pharmacies, hardwares and bookstores were allowed to reopen before retail stores, for certain days and times, he said, “They could have done the same with retail businesses. We could have opened for two days a week or three days during the lockdown.

“With that, everybody would have had a bread to eat. Half a bread is better than no bread.”

The worker said the store had a good flow of customers on Monday and he is hopeful business will continue to pick up in the coming weeks.