IN what is hoped to expand into a grand annual feature, the Giftland Mall, on Friday, held its inaugural Christmas Tree Light Up, officially turning on the lights on the trees lining both sides of the roadway leading up to the East Coast Mall.

The illuminated roadway is meant to complement the luxuriously decorated Christmas tree, captivating ceiling lights and other striking Christmas-related attractions currently on display inside the mall.

“In the main hall we’ve put up the big Christmas tree; we have the ginger bread house and ginger bread family; we have a train set and a lovely lighted section. We have different areas with teddy bears and reindeers, and lots of different things where persons can go and take selfies and feel a little enlightened,” shared Roy Beepat, owner of the Mall.
Many patrons had already begun to appreciate and be enthralled by the attraction after the lights were turned on.

Beepat noted that the lighting-up of the trees was intentionally kept small due to the current need to avoid large gatherings to curb the spread of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, the businessman said he is focused on the bigger picture of what the event will evolve into in the future.

“We hope that this will be the first of an annual event that becomes larger and larger as the years go by. We’re thankful it’s not too large this year because of COVID-19. But from next year, we hope that, with the vaccines, everything will be back to normal and things will really boom and this car park will be really filled with people who want to come out and enjoy this,” Beepat said.

Given the psychological and emotional toll that the COVID-19 pandemic inflicted on citizens, Beepat said that notwithstanding the economic downturn, the Mall really wanted to put its best foot forward in doing something special to ensure Christmas was still a time of joy for its customers.
“This has been a terrible year. It’s been a really, really hard year in terms of our personal suffering with persons being cooped up and locked up because of COVID, and some of us have lost loved ones. So the Giftland Group of Companies made a dedicated effort to try and spread joy and cheer for this Christmas period and we spared no expense in order to make that happen,” he said.

Like with the rest of the economy, the Giftland Mall was also hard hit by the COVID-19 situation. The Mall had temporarily suspended operations for approximately four months, closing its doors in April, and only temporarily partially reopening with some services in July.

However, business at the mall has returned to some amount of normalcy so far, even though consumers are required to wear masks in the facility and have their temperatures tested and hands sanitised upon entry.

However, dozens of persons were at the Mall last Friday night taking in the attractions and treasuring the ability to be out even more now, after months of restrictions.
Beepat said that since reopening the mall, the support has been tremendous and he was truly grateful for all the customers who had returned to support the business.
“I think the people feel a bit shackled and missed coming out and for us it has been record sales since we reopened,” Beepat said.