Slow Christmas Sales in Falmouth
Delroy Christie, president of the Trelawny Chamber of Commerce, has reported that sales is sluggish in Falmouth. He blamed the slow sales on the Falmouth Streetscape construction project. The construction now spans one of the busiest intersections: Cornwall Street and Market Street (the busiest street in the town).
Traffic Pains
As a result of the construction, traffic has to be diverted, which makes it difficult for driving and parking. Add to that the aggressive vehicle clamping system in Falmouth, and we get people prepared to stay away from the town and choose other options.
Many are questioning the wisdom of the authorities who decided to continue the project and dig up Market Street in the month of December.
Meanwhile, Falmouth saw its busiest day of the year yesterday, with a huge influx of people from all over the country. These were people looking for bargains in Falmouth ‘Bend Down’ market. However, walking vendors were all over the town. Yesterday seemed to see anything but slow sales, at least for the vendors. This writer had to hurriedly leave the town due to the noise, congestion and huge volume of people in the uptown area.
From The Observer:
Meanwhile, Delroy Christie, president of the Trelawny Chamber of Commerce, said the streetscape exercise being undertaken in Falmouth, which has resulted in the closure of sections of Market Street and Cornwall Street, is contributing to the slow Christmas shopping in the Georgian town.
“The problem with Falmouth is that, because of the work along Market Street, a lot of people don’t bother to come to Falmouth to shop. They prefer to go to Montego Bay and Brown’s Town to shop,” Christie charged.
He argued that the acute challenge of securing parking space in Falmouth is now exacerbated as a result of the streetscape project.
“If they [shoppers] are to come into Falmouth to shop they are in real, real problem… so they just bypass Falmouth and gone to Montego Bay,” Christie said.
However, vendors at the popular Falmouth ‘Bend Down Market’, reputed to be one of the biggest flea markets in the island, yesterday did not seem to be affected by the reportedly slow sales, as hundreds of shoppers were spotted seeking bargains at the location.
How ironic! Bend Down business people and itinerant retailers (flat foot hustlers) making money while well-heeled, established business people bawling! What a thing!