The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

Back-to-school retailers yesterday said they have seen a modest increase in store traffic in recent weeks that was "nothing to write home about" as private schools prepare for students to return.

James Wallace, owner/operator of Janaees Uniform Centre, told Tribune Business: “To be honest with you we've seen more activity on school uniforms in the past week than we would have expected, but it is not to the level of a back to school.

"To me, it's the levels typically that we will see in January when a school year is opening. I would equate it to when school opens in January. For February we are seeing that sort of level of activity.”

With the September school year start already “out of the window”, Mr Wallace reiterated that most schools have not been having in-classroom learning since last March. He added that customers were a mix of high school and primary student parents, with those of private school students visiting his store more frequently than those of government schools.

The Catholic School Board received permission form the Ministry of Education to reopen schools on January 5, while St Augustine's College is planning for students to return to campus on Monday, February 1. However, only two grades will be allowed per day to conform with social distancing rules.

Jeffrey Lloyd, minister for education, previously said the Government was targeting February 1 for the resumption of in-classroom learning at government schools on New Providence but this has yet to be confirmed.

Garinique Lewis, general manager at Nassau Stationers, said customers have slowly been trickling in to buy school supplies in preparation for the February 1 return to school campuses.

She added: “We have seen just about a 5 percent uptick in sales since school decided to re-open. Persons are slowly coming in. We have relocated to a different location off of Chesapeake Road, which may be part of the slow movement of customers into the store.

Ms Lewis said the period directly after the start of the spring semester is “typically” a slow period, but despite that business has picked up a bit. “Daily it gets better," she added.