JavaScript is disabled in your web browser or browser is too old to support JavaScript. Today almost all web pages contain JavaScript, a scripting programming language that runs on visitor's web browser. It makes web pages functional for specific purposes and if disabled for some reason, the content or the functionality of the web page can be limited or unavailable.

Tuesday, July 8, 2025

Western Trinidad slowly shutting down

by

Anna-Lisa Paul
1930 days ago
20200325

Just like their coun­ter­parts in the cap­i­tal city, many of the busi­ness­es in St James and Care­nage have been forced to em­ploy sev­er­al strate­gies to stay afloat.

While some own­ers/op­er­a­tors ad­mit they are se­ri­ous­ly con­sid­er­ing a per­ma­nent clo­sure, oth­ers say they have been forced to find cre­ative ways to re­main open and keep staff em­ployed.

A dri­ve along the West­ern Main Road which is nor­mal­ly the busiest street in St James, was ev­i­dence of the slow down in eco­nom­ic ac­tiv­i­ty as crowd­ed pave­ments re­mained bereft of shop­pers and many eat-in restau­rants re­port­ed dras­ti­cal­ly dwin­dling sales.

At a pop­u­lar roti shop along the West­ern Main Road, St James - the own­ers lament­ed the lack of cus­tomers as they said sales had dropped by as much as 75 per cent since the con­fir­ma­tion that T&T had record­ed its’ first case of the nov­el coro­n­avirus (COVID-19) on March 12.

Re­veal­ing they had been forced to re­duce their op­er­at­ing hours and stag­ger dai­ly shifts to en­sure they can con­tin­ue to keep em­ploy­ees on, one man who re­quest­ed his name not be used said, “This is all about sur­vival right now…ours and theirs.”

The male of­fi­cial said they have been abid­ing by the reg­u­la­tions set out by the Gov­ern­ment.

How­ev­er, he ad­mit­ted to be­ing un­cer­tain as to how long they would be able to keep per­sons em­ployed as there was lit­tle mon­ey com­ing in.

He said one part-time em­ploy­ee had al­ready been ter­mi­nat­ed as a re­sult, and with sev­en oth­ers fac­ing a sim­i­lar out­come - he had be­gun giv­ing work­ers two days off per week in a bid to en­sure they could all re­main in a job.

A few blocks down from the roti shop, em­ploy­ees at US Ap­pli­ances and Elec­tron­ics Store said they too had been feel­ing the ef­fects of re­duced sales.

The pro­pri­etress said while they con­tin­ued to fare bet­ter than many of the small­er busi­ness­es that have had to close with­in re­cent weeks, it was still not a time for cel­e­brat­ing.

She ex­plained the ar­rival of COVID-19 had re­sult­ed in shop­pers stay­ing away.

At the store which is sit­u­at­ed at Clarence Street and West­ern Main Road, the five em­ploy­ees were as­sured they would be kept on the pay­roll.

Mean­while, this was not the case at a small cloth­ing store which op­er­ates along the same stretch.

The lone fe­male op­er­a­tor said like her - many shop­pers were now hav­ing to choose be­tween buy­ing gro­ceries and splurg­ing on lux­u­ry items.

As a re­sult, she had seen sales de­cline dras­ti­cal­ly in the last two weeks.

She es­ti­mat­ed that it could be down by as much as 80 per cent.

Many of the bars which would of­ten be teem­ing with per­sons want­i­ng to grab a few cold ones be­fore head­ing home, re­mained tight­ly shut yes­ter­day.

It was a sim­i­lar tale in Care­nage as small busi­ness­es and bars up and down the main road were closed.

At the Care­nage Fish­ing De­pot, Desmond Ryan called on the na­tion to hope and pray for a quick res­o­lu­tion to the cur­rent cri­sis.

He said al­though sales in the dis­trict were down, peo­ple were com­ing out to buy food as they need­ed to eat.

At Mac­queripe Mail Road, of­fi­cials of the Ch­aguara­mas De­vel­op­ment Au­thor­i­ty have set up a 24-hour tem­po­rary post to en­sure no ve­hic­u­lar or pedes­tri­an vis­i­tors breach the or­der to stay away.

When Guardian Me­dia vis­it­ed around 1.30 pm yes­ter­day, of­fi­cials said on­ly li­censed firearm users were be­ing al­lowed to ac­cess the shoot­ing range while the golf course and sa­fari park re­mained closed.


Related articles

Sponsored

Weather

PORT OF SPAIN WEATHER

Sponsored

Today's
Guardian

Publications

A model in a costume from The Lost Tribe’s 2026 presentation Island Circus

A model in a costume from The Lost Tribe’s 2026 presentation Island Circus

KERWIN PIERRE

A model in a costume from The Lost Tribe’s 2026 presentation Island Circus

A model in a costume from The Lost Tribe’s 2026 presentation Island Circus

KERWIN PIERRE

Ringmasters of the Road: Crowds flock to Tribe’s circus-themed band launch

15 hours ago
Students, principal and staff of St David’s RC Primary, along with the UWTT and Scotiabank Foundation teams at the handover of steelpans at the school.

Students, principal and staff of St David’s RC Primary, along with the UWTT and Scotiabank Foundation teams at the handover of steelpans at the school.

Students, principal and staff of St David’s RC Primary, along with the UWTT and Scotiabank Foundation teams at the handover of steelpans at the school.

Students, principal and staff of St David’s RC Primary, along with the UWTT and Scotiabank Foundation teams at the handover of steelpans at the school.

Scotiabank Foundation, United Way donate steelpans

15 hours ago
The Executive of the National Parang Association 2025-27. Back row, from left: Kervin Preudhomme, assistant secretary; Shaquille Headley, committee member; Cheriese Pierre, committee member; Lisa Lee, trustee; Joanne Briggs, PRO; Yarelis Touissant, committee member; William Calliste, trustee. Front row, from left: Jenais Carter, secretary; Alicia Jaggasar, president; Henrietta Carter, vice president; Joseph Bertrand, youth officer. Missing: Kerrylee Chee Chow, treasurer; Chevone Pierre, committee member.

The Executive of the National Parang Association 2025-27. Back row, from left: Kervin Preudhomme, assistant secretary; Shaquille Headley, committee member; Cheriese Pierre, committee member; Lisa Lee, trustee; Joanne Briggs, PRO; Yarelis Touissant, committee member; William Calliste, trustee. Front row, from left: Jenais Carter, secretary; Alicia Jaggasar, president; Henrietta Carter, vice president; Joseph Bertrand, youth officer. Missing: Kerrylee Chee Chow, treasurer; Chevone Pierre, committee member.

The Executive of the National Parang Association 2025-27. Back row, from left: Kervin Preudhomme, assistant secretary; Shaquille Headley, committee member; Cheriese Pierre, committee member; Lisa Lee, trustee; Joanne Briggs, PRO; Yarelis Touissant, committee member; William Calliste, trustee. Front row, from left: Jenais Carter, secretary; Alicia Jaggasar, president; Henrietta Carter, vice president; Joseph Bertrand, youth officer. Missing: Kerrylee Chee Chow, treasurer; Chevone Pierre, committee member.

The Executive of the National Parang Association 2025-27. Back row, from left: Kervin Preudhomme, assistant secretary; Shaquille Headley, committee member; Cheriese Pierre, committee member; Lisa Lee, trustee; Joanne Briggs, PRO; Yarelis Touissant, committee member; William Calliste, trustee. Front row, from left: Jenais Carter, secretary; Alicia Jaggasar, president; Henrietta Carter, vice president; Joseph Bertrand, youth officer. Missing: Kerrylee Chee Chow, treasurer; Chevone Pierre, committee member.

Jaggasar returns as National Parang president

Yesterday
Charles Town junior drummers and dancers take to the stage

Charles Town junior drummers and dancers take to the stage

Charles Town junior drummers and dancers take to the stage

Charles Town junior drummers and dancers take to the stage

Jamaican Maroons celebrate, question land rights

Yesterday