Up Front
Local Businesses Report ...An Upbeat Christmas
Despite complaints of a downturn in salesin some quarters, several
businesses in Grand Cayman are enjoying a good Christmas season,with reports of brisk sales over the past two weeks.
Harriet Lott-Hurlstoneis one of the many merchants who are experiencing a "latestart" season. She puchased the downtown location of thisthriving duty free store from her mother Mrs. Billie Lee Watsonand her late stepfather, Antonio in 1983, after a five-year careeras a flight attendant for Cayman Airways. The following year sheadded another Caymania location in the Anderson Square building.She also has an interest in three other duty free businesses inthe capital.
William Peguero startedthe original Sounds & Things store in a 1,200 sq. ft. buildingwith just two employees in 1983. Together with his wife Ellen,they developed the business to move into their present locationwith 4,000 sq. ft. and 35 employees. In early 2001 he moves again,this time into their 51,000 sq. ft. Trinity Square shopping andoffice complex, "with 164 parking spaces."
Cayman Net News spoke to several retailersfrom a cross section of the commercial sector, who indicated generallypositive sales.
"It's been good for us," said Phillip Parsons, StoreManager for AL Thompson's Home Depot. "We've just about movedall our Christmas stock." He attributed this to the store's50 percent reduction sale on Christmas stock, from 16th to 23rdDecember.
Christmas trees, lights and ornaments have been fast-moving items,Mr. Parsons said, noting that the store has enjoyed a better seasonthis year than last.
At Sounds and Things, retailer of a wide variety of electronicand household goods, proprietor Mr. William Peguero reported thatsales were "very good," and comparable to last year.Though that was the case with a wide cross section of the itemsthat the store carries, he noted that toys, gift items and decorationswere enjoying brisk sales.
Also enjoying a good Christmas season - and better than last year-- was Cox Lumber, with small appliances, stereos and televisionsets being the fast-moving items.
"I haven't seen any downward trend this year from last year,"said Mr. Everard Leacock of Home and Office City, the applianceand business machine store. He said that traffic in the storehas been "fairly steady," perhaps because the companyhad "spent a lot on advertising this year."
Uncle Bill's, which stocks hardware items and household goodsreported slower sales this year compared to Christmas 1999.
In the retail clothing sector, there were mixed reviews. EuletaHaughton, owner/manager of Beltina's Lord N Ladies on EasternAvenue said that although it has been a bad year, sales at thestore have picked up some 75 percent from what they were in July.Ladies formal wear and men's suits were moving quickly, she said,adding that still, this year's sales are down 25-30 percent fromlast Christmas.
For Neils Godfrey, part owner of Godfrey's Enterprise, it hasbeen a "poor" season. He said that sales have been down50 percent from last year's figures. The store trades in a varietyof clothing, children's wear and household items.
On the opposite end of the scale, Reflections Discount Store nextto Foster's at the Airport has seen a 10-15 percent increase insales in all its three stores, an upbeat Mr. Stanley Panton, GeneralManager, told Cayman Net News. He said that last weekend, 15thand 16th December, the store enjoyed its best weekend ever inthe six years since its establishment.
Most of the seasonal Christmas stock had been sold and more itemshad to be brought in, Mr. Panton said. He attributed the strongsales to high airfares which make the cost of shopping in Miamiprohibitive, and to the recent opening of another Reflectionsstore carrying brand name clothing and shoes "below US prices."
"A lot of customers have recognised that," he said,of the lower prices. They are shopping locally, because many can'tleave the island due to job commitments, or because they don'thave the required visas. Those customers have increased, he noted.
Judging from the indications in the retail wines and liquor tradeit would appear that spirits may be more subdued this year.
Mr. Germaine Jones, Store Manager at Blackbeard's Liquors Strandoutlet reported sales have "not taken off as yet this year,"though he was expecting that this week it will improve. Unlikethe Crewe Road location which is heavily patronised by the bars,the Strand store generally gets business from the hotels, buteven so, Mr. Jones said, he has not seen a lot of his regularcustomers.
In keeping with the general trend, the first two weeks in Decemberwere slow, said Big Daddy's Liquor Store's Mr. Cleveland Dilbert,who was hopeful that sales would pick up in the last few daysbefore Christmas.
At Cayman Distributors, wholesalers of liquors and wines, Mr.Ken Hall said that the season "looks reasonable" butthat retailers would be better able to indicate real sales.
For some businesses catering to parties and decoration items,patronage has been good so far this Christmas. This was the indicationfrom Celebrations, where "brisk sales" have been reported.
At the Party Mart, manager Ms. Jerrilyn Rankine said that sales"have been excellent" especially for decorations, giftsand balloons. She credited the store's late opening hours forthe upturn in sales.
Caymania Duty Free's Ms Harriet Lott-Hurlstone said though shecannot quote a figure off -hand, their year has been very good."We are enjoying a very good Christmas season," Ms Lott-Hurlstonesaid.
Noted for their wide array of jewellery, perfumes and watches,she said that by the end of November the Anderson Square shophad already surpassed last year's sales figures.
Car sales have not been faring badly either according to Car City'sMr John Michael Foster. "This year was fairly good but lastyear was definitely better," he said.
He pointed out, however, that experience has taught him that inthe car business sales do not conform to any particular season;that rather it fluctuates according to the vagaries of the lendingseason. "How tight or how loose business is depends on howthe banks want it to be," Mr Foster said.
Sales at Cayman Economy Cars have not been so good this year owingpartly to the tardiness in the arrival of stock, said Sales Manager,Mr Wayne Chin. He is confident, however, that business will pickup early into the new year once the new shipment arrives. "We'regonna have a good month come January," he said.
Restaurants and hotels continue to enjoy a good Christmas season,though catering to fewer Christmas parties this year, some report.
A spokesman for the Marriott Grand Cayman Resort told Cayman NetNews that "it has been a little quieter this year than ithas been in recent years for Christmas parties."
A similar situation prevailed at the Westin Casuarina Resort,according to Neils Olsen, Director of Food and Beverage. "Everyyear we are a preferred venue for many companies, but we havenot had as many this year as last year," he said, citingthat he had heard that many companies had scaled down the sizeof their parties.
With a full booking for New Year's, Mr. Olsen was hopeful fora "decent season" though not as good as last year's.
At Champion House II, it has been a busy season, the restaurant'sowner/manager Ms. Dorothy Scott said. "We have been gettinga few parties," she added, while noting that it was too earlyto tell how good the season would be.
All in all, Cayman's commercial sector seems set to have a merryChristmas as sales pick up in the last remaining days of the season.