WATCH: Retailers look forward to ‘giving back’ to shoppers at TSO 2024
Jamaica Observer’s annual shopping event kicks off activities with outside broadcast
ST ANN, Jamaica – For Kerry-Ann Walford-Palmer, owner of North East Fashion in St Ann’s Bay, Take Style Out (TSO) is “a form of giving back” to customers while stimulating her business.
“It’s something that I look forward to yearly and my customers look forward to,” Walford-Palmer told EDGE105’s DJ RichRocc of the Jamaica Observer’s annual shopping event as TSO 2024 kicked off activities on Friday, October 4 with an outside broadcast hosted by the radio station at NCB Main Street in Ocho Rios, St Ann.
Natalie Murray-Ellis of New Windsor Pharmacy expressed similar sentiments while describing TSO as a “big thing” for customers.
“TSO is a big thing, and as a pharmacy owner… you want to be associated with something as big as TSO,” Murray-Ellis said.
The Observer’s annual retail blitz will run from October 24 to 26 this year, and is expected to bring out tens of thousands of enthusiastic shoppers and bargain hunters to more than 2,000 stores across all 14 parishes.
TSO, in its 15th year, initially began as Fashion’s Night Out (FNO) and has been an eagerly anticipated staple on Jamaica’s retail calendar since 2009. Deep discounts are a significant part of TSO, aiming to stimulate the local market.
“The mandate then as it is now was always to support our retail industry,” Jamaica Observer’s Deputy Managing Director Natalie Chin Samuda said.
She also expressed gratitude to this year’s TSO sponsors National Commercial Bank, Multilink, Island Car Rentals and EDGE105.
“Our sponsors have been with us for as long as we have been doing Take Style Out and we are thankful and grateful for them because, without their support, we would not have been here celebrating 15 years of retail therapy,” Chin Samuda said.
In the meantime, Kandice Moncrieffe, marketing manager at the Jamaica Observer, noted that TSO is a great opportunity for retailers to build their brand through the media group’s numerous platforms.
“After the stores register, one of the things we offer is that we put their deals, discounts, address etc in the newspaper; we also put it on our social media and we also put it on our website … which is super beneficial to those stores that need that additional push,” Moncrieffe said.
