LOCAL retailers say the age-old problems of cheap counterfeit goods, smuggling of illicit items and under-invoicing of imports by unscrupulous traders, as well as exorbitant electricity bills are driving them out of business and could cripple the sector if not speedily addressed.

The retailers say despite lobbying the various authorities, the problems persist and have renewed their pleas for help.

“Counterfeiting, smuggling, under-invoicing; those are the three biggest problems facing the retail sector and the fourth one is the JPS (Jamaica Public Service company),” said Michael Ammar Jr, managing director of Ammar’s.

Ammar, one of several retailers participating in the Jamaica Observer’s Celebration of Fashion’s Night Out slated for this Thursday, said despite several complaints to Jamaica Customs nothing has been done to address the problem.

“The commissioner can’t say he does not know anything about it because the Chamber of Commerce told him …who is bringing it in, when it’s coming in, where it is… the cigarette trade, the same thing; batteries, drugs, all sorts of things, not just clothing,” Ammar told reporters and editors at the Observer’s weekly Monday Exchange held at the newspaper’s head office in Kingston yesterday.

“If you buy a fake Tommy Hilfiger shirt it is not going to kill you, but if you take a fake cancer drug it is going to be a whole different ball game,” he said.

Jimmy Joseph, managing director of Joseph’s, said the trade in counterfeit merchandise has grown astronomically in Jamaica over the years.

“If this continues to grow out of control, larger retail establishments can and will disappear, and so it is a very serious state of affairs,” he said.

Joseph explained that Jamaica is following closely behind countries like Turkey where everything from counterfeit Louis Vuitton handbags can be bought in the market.

“Michael (Ammar) and I can’t sell those things because, God forbid if it even creeps in by mistake in the inventory, we would be locked up. But a lot of the smaller retailers do and there is no repercussion,” Joseph argued.

Retailer Racquel Jenkins-Moss Solomon, managing director of Permanent Cosmetics, said the illegal action by some importers has made things bad for law-abiding retailers. She said it was only a few weeks ago that she was forced to pay for three container loads of goods based on the prices that a Customs officer saw online and not what she had actually paid for them.

“It is up to the Customs officer’s discretion to charge me …and so although I am doing the right thing, because there is so much illegal stuff going on, we are suffering for it,” she lamented.

Jenkins-Moss Solomon said she now has to stand the loss on those goods as she is unable to pass on this cost to her customers.

Patricia Samuels, co-director of Signatures boutique, agreed that retailers are often overcharged at Customs because of this problem of illegal imports.

“I have had to let suppliers write to them or call them on the phone because I am not going to pay retail cost for something I bought wholesale,” Samuels said.

Warren McDonald of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce said the organisation recognises that the illicit and illegal importation of goods continues to have a detrimental effect on the sector.

“The chamber has lobbied for many years and has brought this to the attention of the authorities,” he said.

But outside of the various challenges affecting the sector, retailers complain that they also have to deal with the lack of support from Government.

Joseph said although the sector creates major employment, as well as fills the Government’s coffers with taxes, it is often ignored by successive Governments.

“It doesn’t really matter the administration that is ruling at the time… I don’t think we have been considered a part of the backbone of this country and taken seriously,” he said.

He lamented further that a lot of the retailers’ concerns tend to fall on deaf ears but was optimistic that the Observer’s celebration of Fashion’s Night Out will be a vehicle to finally get Government’s attention and be recognised for that sector’s input to society.

“One of my frustrations of being in business for so long is the lack of response you get from the bureaucracy to the obvious frustrations that can be solved, because they do not take retail seriously,” he insisted.

Joseph also said that although retailers are supportive of locally manufactured goods, the high electricity rates make them highly uncompetitive.

“I think if we got competitive, especially with JPS and Government input and appreciation for the sector, we could be a powerhouse for distribution to the Caribbean markets with that type of a network,” he argued.

Meanwhile, Ammar said the Chamber of Commerce did a survey six years ago which showed that the distributive trade in Jamaica is the largest employer of people and pays the most taxes and import duties.

“We are the biggest chunk of the economy, yet we have done very badly at getting our lobbying points across, despite how loud we speak,” he said. “The manufacturers are much smaller, they hire a lot less people and pay a lot less taxes yet their lobby has been greater.”