By Mya Kendall

COMMERCIAL activities on the busy city streets are picking up as parents, and guardians alike, gear up to send their children off to school for the new academic year. On Monday when Guyana Chronicle ‘took a walk’ down Regent Street and its adjoining streets, vendors were busy cashing in on the sales with their exciting chants and calls.

“A lot of people have been passing and asking for school stuff and so on” said, Leonard Mayers, who was assisting his mother with her stand. He conveyed that sales at his mother’s stand had been, “going ok” and that, “Normally, it wouldn’t be as busy as now, so we get extra customers before school starts until Christmas.” He added that his mother had been there since she was young and the extra business always helped in bringing in more finance.

Mr. Rohan, an “all kind of bag, any kind of bag” vendor, had not been selling on Regent Street for very long but said that business for him and his wife had been “going well” and expected business to grow as the end of August nears.

“For me, great, excellent, I can tell you I do the best on Regent Street, nearly one hundred sales a day!” expressed Jermaine Johnson as he avowed his appreciation for the Back-to-School shopping season. Jermaine is an undergarments vendor, found opposite the Regent Plaza, who only sells during the Christmas, Easter and back-to-school seasons as those accumulate the most profits. The vendor said that his customers would recommend new customers to him because of his great quality and customer service. “I wholly believe in customer service” he said. Jermaine mentioned that this season usually benefits him financially, and that putting a smile on someone’s face always makes him happy.

Mr. Donald Gouveia had been selling since 1978, and said, “For me, my composition books sell the most”, as he points to his almost empty table. Gouveia stated that he usually has good business, however, his profits are looking really ‘bright’ this year.

Conrad aka Bellies, who has been selling on the corner of Regent and Wellington for over 20 years, said that, “Business has now started picking up.” This boots vendor said that everybody knows him and he is very popular for his boots, therefore when the back-to-school season reaches it benefits him financially.

On the flip side Anita, also a shoe vendor said, “Business is not going like before, it’s going very slow, sales have dropped right now, you see this road, look at it, empty,” as she gestured towards the sidewalk. “We invested and we’re waiting till next week to see how it goes” she said. She did not believe that anything will change because apparently, most of the shoppers came the week before and were choosing to go to wholesale stores instead of the retail vendors.

On the other side of the spectrum, many parents were seen with their children shopping for back-to-school items.

Shonelle Bernard was found at Anita’s stand shopping for her daughter. She said that her shopping was going fine and all the back-to-school prices were manageable and that she was finding everything she needed easily.

“It all depends, some places expensive and some places cheap and I know where to look for the best quality items”, said Jenny Luke, as she was shopping with her daughter for tights, socks, shoes and a book bag. Jenny expressed that she chose to buy from vendors along the roadside because they had better prices with good quality.