MONTEGO BAY, St. James – A week before Christmas, street and market vendors, whose sales normally skyrocket at this time of the year, yesterday reported anaemic Christmas sales in the report capital Montego Bay.

They are hard-pressed, they say, to compete with the established stores, anticipate a boost in business next week, when more monthly salaries hit the bank, and as Christmas day approaches.

A female shoe vendor, who gave her name as Donna, says Christmas shoppers are opting to purchase from the bigger, more established stores whose prices are lower than the vendors’.

The ‘big stores’ she claims, are able to buy stock in larger volumes and at lower rates than the ‘small’ vendors.

The situation Donna describes represents a shift in the culture of ‘higglering’, or informal street selling, which carved its own market by vendors offering cheaper goods than prices found in the stores.

Now: “Because of the store them, nothing naw gwaan fi we, because they are selling the shoes little less than what we buy them for wholesale,” Donna told the Sunday Observer, saying the stores now buy by the container load.

“We go and buy it now, we have to buy them wholesale. We buying shoes for $1,100, $1,200, $1,300 wholesale and when them go they buy them cheaper, cheaper.”

Most of the vendors say customers only make inquiries of the prices, then leave without making any purchases.

Anthony Pearson, manager of Lloyd’s Montego Bay a popular department store situated along St James Street, says that since Thursday, business has picked up immensely in his store.

“There is definitely, from around Thursday, some extra cash floating around. From investigations I have learnt that some office workers and some hotel workers, or monthly staff, would have already received their pay,” said Pearson.

“Then there are those who have gotten their Christmas bonus payment.”

Ho too expressed confidence that as the holiday gets closer, sale will also increase, pointing out that over the years, the feverish shopping is done later in the season.

“Each year, it gets closer and closer” to Christmas, he said.

But for those shoppers who were out yesterday, the buzz was inside Fashion Parade, another department store also situated along St James Street.

The manager there said business was as good as last year, but claimed that with the depreciation of the Jamaican currency against the US dollar – which closed Friday at $64.61 – would eat into his profit margins.

The shoppers, most of whom were stocking up on outfits that they hope to wear to Reggae shows over the festive season, seemed to be in their teens and early 20s.

One teenager told the Sunday Observer that she had been saving for the entire year to shop for the season.

“I just love this time of the year,” she said excitedly.

Streetside sellers in Montego Bay are largely ignored by shoppers.

(Photos: Horace Hines)