Vendors feeling back-to-school blues as shoppers stay away

The highly trafficked business district of downtown Kingston lacked the usual crowd of shoppers bargaining for back-to-school supplies.

This time of the year, parents and guardians are usually getting prepared for the new school year and vendors would have their wares ready for the next buyer. But when the news team visited the area yesterday, the entrepreneurs bemoaned the lack of sales for the second consecutive year.

For Coombs, the only thing that made him smile was listening to the Supreme Ventures lottery draw. Getting a sale is just a dream, as the tailor admits he has not been able to sell a pair of khaki pants in the last two years.

Nothing nah gwan with khaki

"Me nuh have nothing fi seh 'bout khaki cause nothing nah gwan with khaki. Me nah make no money and worse like how me spend up how much money, me not even wah talk. Me nu know if school a open back and me sew dem up. Di whole a dem in the car, nothing nah gwan," Coombs told THE STAR. There is speculation that the recent upsurge in COVID-19 positive cases could hamper plans for the resumption of face-to-face classes when the new school year begins.

Morris Edwards, a textbook vendor, shared that he is hoping the curve may decline for schools to reopen.

"When COVID-19 just come in, it never that bad but since school lock down things get worse. From last year, things nuh pretty cause member seh nuff parents nah buy nuh book true school nah open. Me want school start back but me nuh know, probably not it nah go work," Edwards said.

Like Edwards, Dacita Campbell, 44, was anticipating shoppers for school supplies. She said that this is the worst turnout she has seen in years, with her stall of notebooks, glue, crayons and book wrappers seemingly untouched.

Campbell admits that she does not foresee the reopening of schools for face-to-face learning, as she thinks online learning will continue into the upcoming school year. She said if school should reopen, there will be restrictions in the classrooms.

"I think they would have to wear masks and they going to do a new thing, where schools that are not on shift system, they would have to put dem on shift. Dem can't accommodate everybody at the same time. We just affi watch wha take place because majority of the parents dem not buying no book because dem seh no school no open," she said.

She stressed that she remains on King Street with back-to-school supplies as students will still need some things in their virtual classes.