Slow but steady traffic into two stationeries was reported this week, as back-to-school sales trickled after the Ministry of Education abandoned plans for in-person classes for the coming school year.
At Brydens Stationery’s Norman Centre branch, Leandra Greaves, told Barbados TODAY that sales so far have been slow but steady. With many Barbadians either out of work or working reduced hours during the pandemic, many have had to make tough choices in their purchases.
“Parents have been really trying to decide on if the textbooks are more important, or if the stationery is more important,” said Greaves. “Though a lot have still been coming in looking for textbooks, most have been choosing more stationery instead, since children now have to spend at least the beginning stages of this new school term at home.”
Despite overall sluggish sales, the switch to online school has seen an increase in the sales of nursery and craft supplies over the last several weeks, she said, with parents hoping to buy materials to keep their children busy at home.
“The sales for nursery supplies has increased compared to previous years, with many parents looking for activity books for their kids to keep them occupied but still learning,” Greaves said. “We have also seen a lot of parents looking to teach children a lot more things at home before they return to their normal classes, so though sales have not been as high as they have been in previous years, they have been steady.”
Co-owner of Indigo Stationery and Gifts, Gail Niles, expressed similar sentiments when asked about the type of sales her Carlton, Black Rock store has been receiving for the month. Parents and guardians are buying more activity books and crafting supplies when compared to pre-pandemic sales, she said.
“Parents have been looking at them a little closer, but you are finding that parents are more buying items for home that their children can use, rather than items specifically for a school syllabus,” Niles told Barbados TODAY. “We have had parents looking at modelling clay just to keep their kids busy, it’s not really for the school, but it is something to keep them occupied and creative in their time away from the classroom.”
Stationers like her were dealt a significant blow in the previous week when Minister of Education Santia Bradshaw announced that no in-person classes will be held for the start of the new term, she said. Though she said she was hopeful for a pickup in sales as students receive their results from this year’s Common Entrance Examination, she predicted the next few weeks be a subdued one for sales compared to 2019.
Niles said: “We were hoping for good back-to-school sales coming onto the end of August – we had a few persons coming in over the course of the month looking for stationery and art supplies, with sales picking up in the last couple weeks as parents started to visit the location more. We were seeing some pretty decent numbers, and then the minister made her announcement on Tuesday saying that classes would not be in person for the start of the term.
“The very next day [Wednesday] the sales were extremely low… by far they were the lowest sales we would have had in the last six weeks. Since the announcement, we have seen some persons still coming for supplies, but nothing like we would normally see this time of year.” (SB)
The post Parents make ‘tough choices’ amid sluggish back-to-school sales appeared first on Barbados Today.