News
Bright lights, bare pockets
The brightly-coloured lights in Colombo and other cities give the impression that a magnificent celebration is underway for Christmas and New Year but shoppers and traders have mixed reactions.
It’s Christmas in the air: Vendors selling Christmas decorations, artificial trees, clothes, are seen in Pettah; but the buyers are less this time round. Pix by Amila Gamage and M.D. Nissanka
One marked difference from last year is the absence of tension caused by the presidential election campaign with the election meetings of the both main candidates going on side by side with the Christmas season.
Christmas decorations are many and varied with some councils and businesses taking the conventional path by displaying multi-coloured tinsel and baubles, fairy lights, Santa Claus figurines, velvet bows and wreath while others, like a roadside vendor in Colombo Fort, are selling teddy bears wearing festive hats and a stuffed Santa Claus.
Stalls selling greeting cards and fireworks, a common sight at Christmas, are yet to spring up.
A stallholder with two children by her side quoted teddy bears at Rs. 550 apiece – “I am open to bargaining”, she said.
Mohammed Athifa, out selling decorations at a Pettah pavement stall, said business was down with people saying they did not have enough money.
“They try to bargain to the maximum and sometimes we can’t sell at the prices they want because our profits are small,” Mr. Athifa said.
“The prices aren’t exorbitantly high but prices of essential goods are unbearable, even for a government servant like me,” said Gamini Perera, 45, a public servant, who like many others found the cost of living barred normal Christmas spending. “There is a huge difficulty in managing our lives with the salaries we get,” he said.
Special offers seem to be few this year: most shoppers say there are no noticeable price reductions.
Retailers of electronic goods and mobile phones are among the heaviest advertisers this year and some of the bigger home appliance companies have already held stock clearance sales, slashing prices on some items by as much as 50 per cent. But in most other sectors the “Sale” signs are yet to come up.
“If I had Rs. 500, it would still not be enough to feed myself and my family for a day,” said M. Thirichandru, 50, who works as a cook in a shop. “There are three people in my family, and at least Rs. 650 is spent every day simply to provide food for them.
We eat foods like dried fish and sambol. It’s so hard to live now, because of the spiraling cost of living.
“In this situation we are finding it hard to cope when the festive season comes because the amount I earn is not enough to spend on other items.”
J. Joseph, a 40-year-old Catholic employee of a private company, said, “Of course times are hard for people. But we will still spend generously on Christmas.
We have already cleaned up our house and plan to do more shopping this year despite the increased prices,” said Mr. Joseph, inspecting decorations at the People’s Park shopping complex in the Pettah.
People visit G. Emanuel’s shop; but when they hear the prices they go away without making any purchases, the clothing retailer said.
“I pawned almost everything and set up this shop but since the prices of goods have gone up by 50 per cent it’s a bare season this year,” he said.
Mohammed Hameed, a retail and wholesale trader, is seeing just a few buyers at the moment; but he is not troubled. “We have people coming to inspect our merchandise.
They will return later to place orders,” he said confidently. “The busiest few days come after December 18 – that’s when we expect our sales to go up.”
With Poya falling on the day before Christmas, traders most shoppers will come out in the next three days.
| Extra buses for gift-shoppersSpecial bus services for Christmas shoppers will be laid on from next Wednesday, December 23, to January 1. Two hundred extra buses will be deployed from the Central Bus Stand in Pettah by the Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB). Most of the buses will be used for night services covering the major commercial centres of Kiribathgoda, Nugegoda, Borella, Wellawatte and Pettah. “We have also strengthened the regional bus services,” SLTB Deputy General manager (Operations), Rajah Gunatilleke said. Extra buses will be deployed from Colombo to Galle, Matara, Puttalam, Anuradhapura, Kandy, Polonnaruwa, Kurunegala, Ampara and Trincomalee. CBus travellers in Negombo, Ja-Ela, Katunayake, Wattala, Wennappuwa, Chilaw and Moratuwa will also benefit from the Christmas services. |
