Mid-morning rains did not deter shoppers from descending into Port-of-Spain and Curepe for Christmas Eve sales.
Stores and malls were opened throughout the city, and from Henry Street heading east the concentration of people steadily grew.
Charlotte Street was packed with wall-to-wall people, vendors’ booths lined both sides of the street, cars still passed at a snail’s pace among the mass of shoppers and pedestrians spilled onto the road.
S Chang Variety Store on Charlotte Street was one of the many stores filled with customers.
Speaking to the T&T Guardian, Wil Chang, the general manager, said, “Drones are one of our top sellers, doll sets, Bumble Bee cars and the majority of toys with LED lights and sounds.
“Minion and Peppa Pig toys rule everything this year. What are also doing well are the flying Minions, amphibious cars and the God of War remote control cars,” Dawn Charles from Morvant said she was shopping for everything in the store.
At Sing Chong Supermarket, throngs of people were buying foodstuff.
Ingrid, an employee, said all the varieties of turkey were finished, a “little bit” of chicken ham remained and the hams were selling. The supermarket also carried a traditional soak and boil ham.
The general manager said people were buying a little of everything because they had to stretch the dollar. She said if they bought a turkey they will forego the ham or vice versa.
Kathy Reid, from Cascade, said she was waiting on her big box of groceries with her ham and chow chow to come out of the supermarket. She said her shopping was going good and she was loving it.
Meanwhile, on lower Charlotte Street, a businessman said there was a proliferation of vendors. He said things hadn’t really picked up and in all the years he was doing business, this was one of the worst Christmases for sales. The businessman said he was not seeing the situation getting better soon either.
Another businessman said vendors were overdoing it, as they were clogging his entrance and making it difficult for shoppers to enter his place. He said the vendors took over both sides of the street and even the pavement. The businessman said delivery trucks also did not want to come in town and he was losing sales because he didn’t have the goods to sell.