A group of retailers from Kingston and Montego Bay yesterday expressed confidence that Fashion’s Night Out (FNO) will boost economic activity by increasing retail cash flow and consumer spending despite the recession.

Deep discounts, store entertainment and the international hype will drive store traffic, they told the weekly Observer Monday Exchange meeting of reporters and editors at the newspaper’s Beechwood Avenue offices in Kingston. Consequently, they anticipate lightning sales and scores of new customers.

“It is great for cash flow and great to get your name out there,” stated Gillian Zacca of OMG which sells clothes for ‘tweens’ and teens. Zacca said that she will offer discounts of up to 70 per cent.

She recalled that during the premiere staging of the event last year, scores of new paying customers streamed into her store. Zacca anticipated the same this year and additionally will team up with a mobile provider and offer giveaways.

“Confidence is coming back and FNO will help,” asserted Michelle Jackson, proprietor of Boy O Boy children’s store. She added that her Merrick Avenue-based store will offer up to 70 per cent off.

Business and consumer confidence is at its highest level in two years, according to the latest Jamaica Chamber of Commerce index of business confidence for the second quarter 2010. Despite the rise in confidence, the retail and trade sector declined one per cent during the June 2010 quarter relative to the corresponding quarter 2009, according to latest data from the Government-run Planning Institute of Jamaica.

The 11 retailers at yesterday’s Monday Exchange form part of the wider wholesale and retail trade sector (including repairs and installation of machinery) which accounts for 19 per cent of Jamaica’s economic output or gross domestic product according to the latest Bank of Jamaica data.

“FNO is a great achievement and we are excited for Jamaica. It’s not just for business owners or the Observer,” stated Kerry-Ann Clarke of kerrymanwomanhome. “I think it can only grow and offer bigger and better opportunities for Jamaica and the world.”

Clarke, additionally, will spur interest by setting up a Fiction Night Club-run lounge in her store and has invited a US-based Vanity Fair journalist as her store host.

Debbie Issa of Changes and June Plum said last year’s store traffic went beyond expectations and increased economic activity.

“Last year FNO blew us away. It was nothing relaxing about it. It was totally intense, really amazing,” stated Issa, who expects the same this year.

FNO is a global shopping spree organised by Vogue across four continents and 17 countries on September 10. The fashion initiative aims to “promote retail, restore consumer confidence, and celebrate fashion,” according to Condé Nast, publishers of Vogue Magazine, and will take place at the same time in the United States, Australia, China, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, Portugal, Russia, Spain, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey and Jamaica.

Locally, FNO is organised by the Jamaica Observer and will include retailers in Kingston, Montego Bay, Ocho Rios, Spanish Town and Portmore.

Last year, Fashion’s Night Out promised and delivered a five-hour respite from the doldrums of lacklustre sales and consumer reticence. Many retailers got more than they bargained for. Some had to implement last-minute control systems to filter the thousands who literally beat a path to their door on the promise of great bargains, sales galore and massive discounts, some as much as 75 per cent. Others sold out in a matter of moments.