By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

Retailers are back on par for 2019 with Christmas sales as they look forward to a robust 2023.

Brent Burrows Jr, manager of e-commerce and online shopping at CBS Bahamas (Commonwealth Building Supplies), told Tribune Business this year’s Christmas season was a “little bit better” than last year’s season. “We are back in line with 2019 levels. Sales were very good. Up until the last moment on Christmas Eve.”

He added: “We closed at 8pm, we didn’t stay open until midnight because we wanted our staff to get back home. But it was busy on Christmas eve, which was that Saturday, which made it a little busier than it would have fallen on a weekday. So that was definitely nice.”

Hot items this year at CBS were the home appliances and “gift items” for homes, including small power tools. “Then also the small kitchen appliances like the blenders, the air fryers, toasters, toaster ovens, things of that sort. So around Christmas time those are always the big items, anything someone could use as a gift.”

Margo Farrington, chief marketing officer for Lorene’s Department Store, also said they were happy with this year’s sales particularly since it trended towards Bahamians spending money at home.

She added: “We were quite stocked this year. We had a good amount of inventory. We ordered very early. That was what helped us this year.

“We are now hoping that 2023 will be a better year, but I haven’t looked at the numbers yet but I believe we will be up from last year.”

The vaccine restrictions for entry into the US may be putting Bahamians off from travelling for shopping, leaving more disposable income for them to spend at home “which was good, because we had the inventory,” Ms Farrington added.

Tanya Bain, retail manager at the Perfume Bar, said her stores were up 20 percent on last year’s sales already, particularly for her downtown store that benefitted significantly from the influx of cruise ship passengers that disembarked the ship to walk downtown. “They were able to bring in a lot of sales and an increase in the numbers, I think because of the amount of cruise ships that’s now in port and people are now getting out of COVID and they are more settled.”

The Palmdale location also did “exceptionally well” as it held as their second highest performing store for this Christmas season.

There was one wrinkle to the season, because a lot of inventory was not available due to shortages with their suppliers. “It was not a matter of ordering ahead of time, some of our supplies just didn’t have the stock. A lot of our suppliers had issues, but we will definitely order twice as much for next year. We believe next year will be a much bigger year.”

She added: “There was a shortage of raw materials this year. So even though we came back to work, a lot of factories around the world did not get back online and that’s what affected the stock supply this year.”