Slow start to Christmas sales

As a woman looks at toys toy being sold on Frederick Street, Port of Spain in December 2024. - Photo by Angelo Marcelle

SOME Port of Spain vendors are hoping for a Christmas miracle as sales ahead of the holiday season kick off to a relatively slow start.

“It hard, what else I could say? Hard for customers, hard for us,” one young vendor, who gave his name as Derron, told Newsday on December 14 as he sat next to a table loaded with electronics for sale.

He said although the pace has picked up during the pre-Christmas weekend, shoppers are more careful with their spending than ever, buying less and demanding prices that are unsustainable for his business.

“I have to make a living too. Sometimes I might give a little deal but I can’t always be taking a loss. Like just not a man now come to offer me $80 for this speaker.”

The speaker was priced at $250

“Maybe that’s all he have so I can’t get vex but oh God.”

He said he often changes his vending areas going from transit areas to outside events to increase his chances of making a sale but said he is uncertain how long he can keep the business up.

Another vendor selling Rastafarian-style jewellery and clothing said that in the last few months, sales have slowed down far more than in previous years.

“Everything gone up now so people doesn’t even want to stop and look cause they know they can’t afford and that’s a little disheartening. The season not like before. People used to be excited to buy their little things…but now it come like a chore, it’s stressful…they lost that enjoyment because everything is a pinch.”

And declines are not confined to small businesses, the Central Statistical Office noted contractions across multiple segments within retail nationwide. For the second quarter of 2025, activity declined in construction material and hardware by 12.8 per cent, household appliances and furniture by five per cent and dry good stores by 6.9 per cent. Supermarkets and groceries only saw a 0.8 per cent decrease over the period.

“This is going to be an essential Christmas…people are going back to the basics,” one shopper, 38-year-old Kireon Millet, told Newsday “And maybe it is a good thing, people need to remember the true meaning of the season. It’s not about how much you can buy, is about love.”

A store manager at Wonderful World on Frederick Street, which is open on Sundays for the holidays, told Newsday that despite the slowdown down seasonal items like hats, gift wrap and trinkets were still top sellers.

“Maybe people are looking for things that are smaller (as gifts) but as they say, it’s the thought that counts. We all making do with what we have.”

One vendor who did not want to be named said that while sales were not bad, enhancing safety for vendors, especially by enhancing lighting and police presence, would help vendors capitalise on the extended holiday shopping hours, similar to bigger businesses.