Stores optimistic
The persistent rains that deluged Georgetown for much of this week did little to suppress evidence that the traditional Christmas retail trading had begun in earnest despite earlier predictions of restrained spending resulting from an anticipated reduced flow of remittances to Guyana.
With two shopping weekends remaining before Christmas Stabroek Business has noted a sudden upsurge of trading in the retail sector this past week, with hundreds of shoppers braving excessively heavy rains and the inevitable attendant flooding of the capital to “invade” most of the large department stores in the city.
When Stabroek Business visited Water Street around mid-morning last Thursday, we found sections of the access roads to the city under water and hundreds of shoppers shrugging off the conditions to pursue their seasonal routine. With several of Georgetown’s home furnishing suppliers offering small or zero down payments on furniture and home appliances, it is difficult to gauge the extent of consumer liquidity. All week, however, there has been plenty of evidence of spending on household furnishing as trucks and canters appeared to be doing brisk business transporting purchases from outside the premises of Courts, Singers and the smaller retail traders.
When Stabroek Business visited National Hardware, Avinash and Giftland on Water Street hundreds of shoppers had packed the stores and appeared to be purchasing mostly home appliances and decorative goods; and while all week proprietors of retail stores were declining interviews on the grounds that they were too busy trading, those who agreed to speak with this newspaper briefly said that they were relieved that earlier predictions of a reduced volume of retail trading this Christmas may, after all, be a false alarm.
As early as October both the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) and several of the local remittance agencies were alluding to the likelihood that the global economic downturn and its knock-on effect on the United States economy could significantly reduce remittance flows to Guyana. With an estimated 80 per cent of Guyanese reportedly in receipt of either regular or occasional remittance flows, the GCCI had alluded to the likelihood of more cautious seasonal spending.
Even as the past week provided evidence of a marked increased in retail spending, however, downtown businesses were refusing to change their posture of caution on the likely volume of Christmas spending. The surfeit of supermarkets around the city were reporting no significant increase in sales volumes though Gregory Camacho, General Manager of the Water Street branch of the Bounty chain told Stabroek Business that he expected that spending on food would increase as Christmas draws closer. “Consumers tend to focus on furnishing and home decoration before they turn their attention to food,” he added.
Even as some sections of the commercial sector begin to sound more upbeat about seasonal trading, however, some city businesses were last week bemoaning the unusually heavy seasonal rains and their likely impact on trading. Last Wednesday traders occupying the usually busy King Street Shopping Plaza told Stabroek Business that they had lost almost an entire day of trading as a result of floodwaters that had accumulated since earlier that morning on the pavement outside their stores.
With official predictions of further bad weather towards the end of the week, proprietors told Stabroek Business that the weather had now become at least as important a factor as consumer liquidity in determining the volume of trading this Christmas. While City Hall officials appeared to be blaming the flooding on malfunctioning drainage pumps, business houses were pointing to deposits of garbage in drains. Apart from evidence of accumulation of plastic bottles and polystyrene containers in overtopping drains, this newspaper also identified a number of deposits of builders’ waste on the roadway and in drains on Regent Street.
While over the past two weeks street traders appeared to be taking full advantage of the traditional Christmas amnesty customarily offered by City Hall, by last Wednesday sections of flooded roadway and pavement on Regent Street had all but ruined much of the week for them. On Wednesday, which saw the heaviest downpour so far for the week, street traders appeared more preoccupied with protecting their goods from the weather than with making sales.
With more bad weather predicted over the next two weeks pavement vendors told Stabroek Business that they had little choice but to continue to brave the weather during what they say is by far the best shopping period in what has been a difficult year. “We can’t give up no matter how bad the rain falls,” one vendor told Stabroek Business.
Shoppers with whom Stabroek Business spoke on Wednesday noted that there had been recent price reductions in some essential consumer items including cooking gas and flour but said that on the whole there had been an overall increase in prices this Christmas. However, a vendor told this newspaper that she believed that the overall volume of household goods imported this year and the increased competition among both established stores and vendors meant that there was more room for “shopping around.”
She said that it appeared that wholesalers in the city who depended heavily on purchases by vendors were prepared to lower their own profit margins on several items in order to move their stocks quickly.” Price comparisons among household goods being sold by pavement vendors this week revealed significant disparities in the prices being asked for some items including artificial flowers and ornaments.
