Many of the stores visited were already decked out with lights, trees and other seasonal ornaments. In downtown Kingston, on King Street, there wasn’t much reflection of the approaching Christmas holiday, except for very few stores which had Christmas sales and decorations. Manager of ‘Best Mart’, Linval Russell, said his store’s sale started two weeks ago to get rid of old stock. He said the reception to the sale “is not bad, not good.
“We started decorating this week and will continue until next week. We hope things will be better because right now things are a bit stiff,” Mr. Russell said. One shared sentiment among most of the store managers, both uptown and downtown, was that while efforts were being made to embrace the Christmas season and to attract customers, things are relatively slow, especially on weekdays. One store owner said events of recent months could possibly have an impact on sales.
She cited Hurricane Dean, the general elections and recent heavy rains, as potential factors. But despite this, store personnel are anticipating and hoping that as the holiday comes closer, there will be increased sales. In the meantime, for consumers, it is not too late to start shopping and take advantage of the attractive sales now on, which, for some stores, will likely be carried out until Christmas.