Kevon Felmine

Se­nior Re­porter

kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt

San Fer­nan­do’s High Street is show­ing signs of a hol­i­day re­vival, with shop­pers slow­ly re­turn­ing de­spite lin­ger­ing eco­nom­ic pres­sures from COVID-19.

While the area still lacks the vi­brant Christ­mas spir­it of years past—fea­tur­ing few­er dec­o­ra­tions, min­i­mal parang mu­sic, and few­er street ven­dors—the hus­tle and bus­tle have im­proved com­pared to re­cent years.

At Vin­od Jew­ellers Ltd, man­ag­er Ritesh Mis­try not­ed a mod­est in­crease in sales since De­cem­ber be­gan, al­though he ad­mit­ted the rush is not what it used to be.

“A few years back, the rush would start two or three weeks be­fore Christ­mas, but now it’s just a week. I think peo­ple are wait­ing for op­tions and their pay,” Mis­try said.

He added that items like chains, di­a­mond jew­el­ry, pen­dants, bracelets, and ear­rings re­main pop­u­lar, though chal­lenges such as lim­it­ed park­ing and re­duced foot traf­fic per­sist. He said High Street has be­come in­con­ve­nient for many and the malls of­fer bet­ter park­ing, se­cu­ri­ty, and a more fam­i­ly-friend­ly at­mos­phere.

He sug­gest­ed dec­o­ra­tions, en­ter­tain­ment, and bet­ter park­ing could help re­vive the area’s ap­peal. Street ven­dors, once a hall­mark of High Street, have large­ly been re­moved by the San Fer­nan­do City Cor­po­ra­tion (SFCC). Still, a few have re­turned, and their pres­ence may be help­ing draw shop­pers back.

At The Christ­mas Flea Mar­ket, sales clerk Chelsea Ram­per­sad re­port­ed im­proved sales com­pared to last year. She said peo­ple are shop­ping ear­li­er this time, and the ef­fects of COVID-19 that plagued past Christ­mases are gone. Cus­tomers flocked to toys, bi­cy­cles, drones, and dolls as fes­tive pur­chas­es gained mo­men­tum.

For­mer SFCC coun­cil­lor Wendy Gibbs, spot­ted shop­ping at Miguel Moses, said she start­ed her Christ­mas prepa­ra­tions ear­ly. She be­gan last month dur­ing the Di­vali sales. Yes­ter­day, she was help­ing a friend and still has to pick up a rug. “I like to avoid the rush—it’s too crazy,” Gibbs said. With most items checked off her list, she is now fo­cused on hol­i­day sta­ples like ham, cake, and pastelles.

For some shop­pers, the eco­nom­ic strain was ev­i­dent. Ramesh Nar­ine, shop­ping with his fam­i­ly, not­ed a dis­par­i­ty in prices. “Some stores are cheap, but oth­ers are ex­pen­sive. It is the same as last year,” Nar­ine re­marked.

Asia Pat­ton-Ramd­hanie found prices high­er than ex­pect­ed and the streets qui­eter than an­tic­i­pat­ed so close to Christ­mas.

“Com­pared to three weeks ago, prices are up in some places. Every­one has to make a lit­tle mon­ey, I guess,” Pat­ton-Ramd­hanie said.

De­spite this, she re­mained hope­ful about find­ing gifts for her hus­band and chil­dren.

With the fi­nal days be­fore Christ­mas ap­proach­ing, San Fer­nan­do mer­chants are op­ti­mistic the tra­di­tion­al last-minute rush will ma­te­ri­alise, bring­ing much-need­ed cheer to the city’s com­mer­cial heart.