School rush

THINGS STARTED to quiet down at Brydens in the afternoon, but still the store had barely enough room for people to move round. (Sandy Pitt)

By Lisa King | Sun, September 09, 2012 - 12:05 AM

AT LEAST one store was so packed it had to regulate the entry of customers as scores of people descended on Bridgetown yesterday for last-minute, back-to-school shopping.

This was the case with Brydens Retail Inc. on Victoria Street, where store supervisor John Holder said the morning period was especially hectic.

With the new school year scheduled to start tomorrow, Bridgetown was awash with people buying stationery, books, shoes, clothes and bags.

In some cases, books and clothes were sold out.

Lionel Walters was one of the unlucky shoppers, as he had to walk back from Brydens without four of the books on his grandson Blaine’s book list. Walters said a lack of time and a dislike of shopping in Bridgetown were responsible for his late shopping.

Holder said that there was a tradition of people starting to get their books as soon as the school term ended, but yesterday parents and guardians were looking for books for the first time.

As security personnel directed the snaking lines in the stationery yesterday afternoon, Holder said that unfortunately they had run out of some supplies.

It would take at least two to four weeks for the new supplies to arrive, he reported.

At F. W. Woolworth and Co. Ltd, store manager Martin Bryan said summer business started quite slowly but the last two weeks were quite busy.

“It seems like everyone decided to come to Town today,” he told the SUNDAY SUN. “Incredibly, even today the back-to-school clothing department is completely overwhelmed. Parents are waiting till the day before school to come in. We still have some things in stock. We have sold out of some sizes but are still hoping to satisfy the customers.”

Speaking to the craze of children requesting costly brand-name shoes and bags, Bryan said: “We have been offered those bags but we do not have any of those expensive bags. Our customer is not that kind of customer; they want quality but they want value too.”

Bryan said their the bags were much cheaper but durable.

“They (shoppers) are paying more for the brand. I am not saying they are not quality (products) but the bags we have, we have very few returns on them; they usually last the school year,” he added.

Operations manager at Shoes for U, Dwight Tudor, expressed similar sentiments.

Tudor said there was no shortage of customers, but the parents were leaving out the cheaper brands in favour of the pricier ones.

He admitted that sales at the store were slow. Parents looked around and when they did not see the brand they wanted, they walked back out, he said.

“We can attest to the fact that shoes that we carry are durable options to those more expensive brands,” Tudor said.

He pointed to a particular brand which he said was similar to the popular ones, giving parents an alternative. But the children were calling for particular shoes, he pointed out.