By YOURI KEMP
Tribune Business Reporter
ykemp@tribunemedia.net
Bahamian food retailers yesterday said they fear May sales will drop as temporarily laid-off persons and others run out of savings and other income that has sustained demand to-date.
Bradley Rolle, Centreville Food Market’s general manager, told Tribune Business: “It did slow down a bit and that is a scary thing, because I’m wondering now if people have run out of money. I think a lot of people, during that shopping panic spree, ended up overspending. It is tapering off so much now you are wondering if people are running out of money.”
The government’s month-end Tuesday pay day had boosted business this week, Mr Rolle adding: “We had a little crowd, but when this is done now we will have to see what happens after the first lockdown weekend for May. When Monday comes we will see what happens, because we will miss that two-week pay cycle from the hotel workers.”
Atwell Ferguson, Golden Gates Supermarket’s general manager, added: “Well, I guess everything is starting to normalise now since it will be the same routine every week. The only way things would change is if the prime minister makes a quick, drastic change and the people start to panic, but it looks like people are starting to adjust to this time now so everything has basically settled down.”
Responding to concerns from other food retailers that consumer spending may be decreasing, Mr Fergsuon added: “Yes. I have seen that. That is true. People have started scrapping now. They were getting trolley loads of stuff, but people aren’t using any trolleys now.
“They are just getting the necessities and are not getting the extra stuff like cookies and snacks. Now it’s less and everyone is watching their pockets now. I guess they weren’t expecting it to be this long, and I think the longer it gets like they said, come May 30 it is going to really be hard on the people.”
Mr Ferguson said he was being cautious over his projected May sales. “I haven’t seen it yet. When I say cash-flow hit, as far as the big spending it has gone down, but as far as the normal sales we were getting before this, the sales have gone up,” he added.
“So it hasn’t come down to where it was before, so the sales are still up, but not as high as it was when the panic set in. We are getting there but it isn’t there yet.”
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