Back-to-school sales slow in Tobago

A parent shops for school supplies. - File photo

DESPITE a slow start to the back-to-school shopping in Tobago, bookstores expect sales to gain momentum closer to the opening of the new school term.

Booksellers in Tobago told Newsday that many parents appear to be holding off on purchases.

The back-to-school material includes a wide range of essentials – from textbooks and stationery items to uniforms, shoes and even gadgets like tablets and flashdrives.

Having opened its Tobago branch in Lowlands mall a few weeks ago, managing director of Charran’s bookstore Vivek Charran said sales have generally been good.

He said, "We’ve been happy with the response that we’ve been getting, we’re very grateful for that, to be honest with you. We’re really trying to provide a good service as much as we can in Tobago.”

He said this week though, sales have been very slow.

“Things have quieted down this week – maybe it’s the week before the fortnight, it could be that or maybe it can be the weather, but certainly there’s about three weeks or less than three weeks left before school opens so we’re expecting things to ramp up.

“Many people are buying used books and there are a lot of trade-downs and trade-ups. What happens is that families, family members and friends who know each other and have a son or daughter going up in a form would trade their books to somebody going lower. So brothers and sisters would trade their books, cousins, family members and friends would trade their books sometimes, they’ll even pay for it.”

He said there is also a used-books industry that has grown this year in particular as well as the number of charities.

“We participate in that as well – in terms, we give a lot of vouchers; companies have purchased vouchers from us to give to their staff; we’ve had NGOs purchase vouchers to give out; we’ve also had private individuals and religious bodies purchase vouchers and stuff like that to give out to various people. So it’s a tremendous amount of charity, I believe that’s been happening out there as well too.”

He dispelled reports that the prices of books have also increased.

“We want to categorically state that it hasn’t because first of all, we would know if there is an increase. Secondly, the minister of education when he came in said that there would be no new books, by and large, on the booklists. Books have remained the same price as they were last year so there hasn’t been any inflationary pressures so to speak.”

At another bookstore in Scarborough, one manager who spoke anonymously said sales were considerably lagging.

“People just don’t have. I would say, people just don’t have that disposable income, because you hear it all the time eh. Times are hard and things are just getting more and more expensive. It’s a lot of pain and strain on the parents’ pocket, so we definitely understand.”

At Nelson’s Bookstore in Scarborough, a supervisor shared the exact sentiments.

“It’s selling but slowly. It normally does pick up coming down to the end of the month and closer to when school is about to be opened.”