Children ‘save’ Christmas
With less than a week to Christmas, activities in the Central Business District of Accra are not matching up to the usual period before the festivities.
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Although there is a lot of vehicular traffic and an increase in the crowd in the capital, traders say the traffic is not reflecting in their sales.
Quite unusually, the traditional poultry sellers who sit at vantage points with fowls during this period were nowhere to be found.
The people who are busily cashing in ahead of the Christmas are vendors of children’s clothes and shoes, toys, Christmas watches, toy spectacles, masks, Christmas decorations and confectionaries.
Some traders who originally do not sell toys and confectionaries have gone into that trade as it appears to be the most profitable business around this time.
Maame Ama, a trader who sells fabrics at the Makola shopping mall, told The Mirror that she was surprised at the low patronage of fabrics this year.
‘A lot of people are in the market but they are not buying anything, people keep asking of prices of the commodities and they just walk by. I have realised they are only buying clothes and toys for their children so this morning, I also added some toys to my goods,’ she said.
She attributed the reduction in sales as compared to other years to the rampant increases in prices this year.
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‘I know people would love to buy, but they cannot afford them, the prices of the fabrics have doubled and this I think is accounting for the low sales,’ she added.
A woman who was seen buying shoes for her children said she had to concentrate on the children’s needs alone because it was impossible to buy for herself and her husband looking at the current prices of goods.
‘Usually during Christmas, I shop for myself, my husband, our children and even buy gifts for friends and some family members, but I am not sure I would be able to do that this year.
“I am concentrating on the children alone and even with that I was not able to buy all the things I listed to buy for them,” she said worriedly.
Dzifa Kegey reports from the Kaneshie Market that similar to the situation at Accra Central, most of the traders in the markets complained about the low patronage of goods this year despite the heavy human and vehicular traffic.
They said though there are a lot of products which were ordered specifically for the festive season, consumers are just not buying.
They blamed the situation on the increase in utility bills, fuel and transportation, which have resulted in a hike of prices of commodities.
Obuobi, a trader of Christmas cards and gifts, told The Mirror that business has not been very good as compared to previous years. Though town seems to be a bit congested with people, they are not buying anything.
He said usually, when it was about a week or a month to Christmas, there was an increase in demand of commodities but the situation was different this year.
Another trader, who gave her name as Caro, said she sometimes went home without selling anything and had to spend the little money she had on food and transportation
While some traders blamed the government and the power crisis for this year’s Christmas atmosphere, others too attributed the situation to the Bible, saying that during the end time, people will experience some sort of hardship, and so they are forced to accept things as they are and not blame anybody.
“Though things are not going well this year, we are hoping for a better ending and a fruitful new year,” another trader added.
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