Kingston, FNO king

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

THE streets of Half-Way-Tree were packed with anxious shoppers for Jamaica OBSERVER CELEBRATES FASHION'S NIGHT OUT (FNO) 2011.

There were some stores like Di Trends where customers had to be let in one by one in order to view the items that were on sale. Bargains ranging from 10 per cent to 50 per cent off at various stores were offered at the clothing stores.

Hairdressing parlour's such as Cherry's Hair & More offered specials on hairstyles from washing for $500 to creaming for $1,300.

The streets of Half-Way-Tree were kept in-sync with the rhythm of everyone's footsteps because every participating mall had a disc jock positioned somewhere. Some FNO shoppers could not control themselves and danced to the musical selections while taking a shopping break.

LIME was not to be outdone because entertainment for Half-Way-Tree, New Kingston and Portmore shoppers was provided in the form of a celebrity motorcade which featured Beenie Man, Tami Chynn, CeCile, Wayne Marshall, Alaine, Voicemail, Ishawna, Spice, Timberlee and Denyque.

FNO was not only about hair and clothing stores, but fast food enterprises such as Mother's which offered deals like buy one patty, get one free. Also, Kingston Bookshop and Sangsters Bookstore offered discounts on stationery and educational toys. One Sangster's Bookstore customer proudly mentioned that he was even lucky enough to get a discount on textbooks. Stores such as Watts New catered to the techies who roamed the streets on FNO.

Overall, customers said that they were satisfied with the discounts. A lot of people who had never been to particular stores said that FNO was the reason for them leaving their house and checking that store out.

Store owners and managers were pleased that more customers than usual were coming into their stores and purchasing the stock. TEENs and children alike were happy that they had a night to accompany their parents while getting new items for school or otherwise.

Hundreds of stores participated in the Half-Way-Tree version of FNO 2011. In staging the event, the Jamaica Observer helped many Jamaicans to save money, while allowing them to have a safe and entertaining night of shopping.

The night of fun, frolic and, of course, fashion brought about mixed reactions from both store owners and customers.

TEENage took to the streets of Half-Way-Tree and captured the highlights of the night.

Fashion Fever

Store manager, Winsome Terrelonge: "Sales have not been any better, it is just like a normal day. I think it is because the timing is wrong, people are still shopping for back to school."

House Of Style

Store manager, Tanya Campbell: "As it relates to sale, it has been like a regular day, there is the crowd but most of the people are not buying. My conclusion is that the hard economic times is the reason for this."

Di Trends

Store owner, Venal Millegan: "One word to describe today is crazy and that is crazy in a good way. We have had a tremendous boost in sales; it is like a week's sales in one day. This is because we started the sale from 11:00 am, brand name clothes are selling for really low prices and the fact that this is the store that customers and can name their prices. It has been really good."

Sangster's

Store manager, Michelle Brown: "Wow, sales have been really good, from as early as five o' clock we have been getting a crowd. A lot of people have not completed their back-to-school shopping so Fashion's Night Out has allowed them to get these items, especially the textbooks and the stationery, at a lower cost.

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Kingston, FNO king