THE consumption of bun and cheese during Easter has been a long-held Jamaican tradition, but supermarkets in the Corporate Area yesterday reported as much as a 50 per cent reduction in the sale of these products as consumers chose to keep their cash rather than indulge.

A tour of supermarkets in Kingston saw few takers for stocks of bun and cheese lining the outskirts of these outlets. Instead, shoppers were more concerned with acquiring essential items.

Despite repackaging their cheese in smaller parcels for those who could not afford the larger tin, assistant manager for Empire Supermarket in Cross Roads, Sonia LaBeach, said they saw about a 50 per cent reduction in sales. She attributed this primarily to the high cost of living.

“People are shopping less and are becoming more health conscious now,” she said, explaining that some shoppers felt the sugar content in some of the buns was too high.

Added to this, she said, was the fact that supermarkets had to compete with bakeries that were now selling their buns on location.

“You find that what the costumers are doing now is that they are going straight to the outlet instead of the supermarkets.”

But when the Sunday Observer visited the National Baking Company Limited on Half-Way-Tree Road yesterday afternoon, only two lines of customers were seen making purchases.

Some consumers felt that the price of buns, which ranged from as low as $125 to $650, was far too high for their pockets, given their other financial commitments. A tin of Tastee Processed Cheddar Cheese is being sold for between $440 and $2,079 depending on the size and the supermarket.

“This is the first one I am going to buy this Easter and it’s the last one, because it too expensive,” said Osbourne Brown as he reached for a bun on the shelf of a local supermarket. “Last year, I bought about $7,000 worth of bun and cheese, but this year is only one alone I can buy.”

Nearby, Basil Hunter was seen comparing the prices for a wide variety of buns on display. “Is just one bun a buying, so a choosing the best one,” he said before explaining that he was only making the purchase to appease his wife and children.

This was pretty much the same story from other consumers as they vowed to buy one and no more due to limited funds.

Manager for the John R Wong supermarket in New Kingston, Pauline Lynch, believed the increase in job losses in the country coupled with the increase in the price for bun and cheese was the reason for the 10 per cent reduction in the number of persons purchasing these products there.

“The only thing that people can cut back on right now is food,” she said, adding that her sales were nothing like what she had expected, given the demand in previous years.

But even as some supermarkets fared badly, others, particularly those in central locations like Half-Way-Tree, had a far better Easter weekend sale.

Manager for the Hi-Lo Food Store in Half-Way-Tree Natalee Douglas was busy trying to source more buns when we visited as the shelf was virtually left empty by customers who had been purchasing in bulk since Thursday evening.

“We are in a key location. A lot of banks are here and other businesses, so we had a lot of persons buying in bulk for their staff,” she said.

Cynthia Martin, a manager for Brooklyn Supermarket in Half-Way-Tree, also had no complaints.

“Jamaicans are accustomed to tradition, so they are still buying bun and cheese regardless of what is happening,” she said. “If you were here Thursday and saw the people here, you would have seen that people are still buying.”

Basil Hunter chooses a bun from a supermarket shelf in Kingston yesterday. Hunter said he was only purchasing one bun because he knew his wife and children looked forward to it each year.