Downtown retailers, shoppers split on market trends
Published:Wednesday | December 22, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Dionne Rose, Business Reporter
The recent heavy retail discounting which pulled scores of shoppers down-town, has been the icing on the cake for some large business owners in the commercial hub, who are pointing to steady signs of improved commerce of late. For some others though, business remains in the dumps, forcing one proprietor to even contemplate pulling down his shutters for good.
Gassan Azan, owner of dry goods retailer Bashco, told Wednesday Business that since the remodelling of his stores, the Orange Street business has seen a steady trek of shoppers from uptown.
"Since we remodelled our Bashco stores, the amount of uptown traffic that comes down here to shop with us is phenomenal," Azan said, noting that there was still a perception that better bargains are available downtown.
These bargains, and what the businessman said was a depression in crime, were responsible for pulling traffic from uptown.
"People are trying to save where they can; and the variety is also there," he said.
Azan appears to be putting his money where his mouth is, having recently embarked on J$45 million venture - a 2,700-square foot bakery, called Sweet Tings, which opened at the corner of Beckford Street and Princess Street in the heart of the downtown district at mid-month. Already, the bakery is doing thriving business, said Azan.
Not a switch in loyalty
In random interviews by Wednesday Business in the downtown district, however, some shoppers touted the bargains as a pull, while others said their presence was not to be seen as a switch of geographic loyalty.
Sherol Dixon, for example, still has safety concerns.
"I am more comfortable shopping uptown because of the security," she said.
"I understand that they are trying to rebuild downtown, but it is not enough to make me feel safe to shop there."
But different strokes for different folks.
"Although I like uptown, when you compare prices, downtown is more attractive and the things are also of good quality," said one shopper.
Said another: "I work on Marcus Garvey Drive, so it is much easier to use my lunch hour to do my shopping and downtown is closer and more economic."
Azan's take that downtown business is being fuelled in part by traditionally uptown shoppers, is being supported by Michael Ammar Sr, operator of the Ammar's clothing chain, who says it is not a new development.
"Yes, there has been, (but) it is not really a substantial shift," Ammar said. "We have noticed it within the last two years."
Nevertheless, Ammar said the uptown Ammar's stores continue to perform better than those downtown because they are bigger with a wider array of merchandise, he pointed out.
The clothing retailer said he was optimistic that there would be an even greater shift downtown with the addition of mobile phone giant Digicel's US$65-million headquarters building now under construction on the waterfront.
Furniture and appliances trader, Steven Khemlani, chief executive officer of Khemlani Group, was a lot more glum.
"No, none at all," he said of any suggestion of a movement of shoppers from uptown to his downtown business.
"I don't think that people who shop uptown go downtown," Khemlani said, countering his Bashco and Ammars counterparts, pointing out that the commercial district was dirty and unsafe for shoppers.
"It is quite a shame that a city like Kingston is deteriorating," he said.
"We need to revive the craft market (and) have inbond shopping."
The Digicel headquarters investment, he said, would not be enough to restore the area.
Milade Azan, the owner of Azan's Super Centre, who operates two household goods stores in down-town Kingston, says he sees no traffic of spenders heading his way.
"It is more of a commercial shift to uptown," he said, while agreeing with Khemlani that disorder rules, with poorly regulated street and rampant extortion.
"It is a lost cause; no matter what they do, it cannot recover," he said.
"There is no future for down-town because there is no order. I wouldn't invest any more money in downtown."