The economic blow of Hurricane Frances is already being felt by many local businesses, with Bay Street merchants seeing business come to a crawl in the aftermath of the storm.
Straw vendors were also anxious for more cruise ships to pull in as the financial hardships associated with the national disaster continued to sink in.
On Thursday, despair and desperation appeared in the eyes of some of the sales clerks on the islandﾴs main strip, who hung sluggishly around waiting and hoping for customers.
One Bay Street merchant described the impact of Hurricane Frances as a ﾓknock out punchﾒ that has placed a financial drain on downtown businesses.
ﾓJust look around and see what the hurricaneﾴs effects are,ﾒ said Marva McDonald, store manager at Pipe of Piece.
ﾓThe truth is that the business has stopped,ﾒ Ms. McDonald said. ﾓThings are really very, very slow. Being a retail store, we depend highly on the tourism industry. Ships arenﾴt in, so we donﾴt have the tourists and the hotels donﾴt have that many tourists, so they havenﾴt been coming.ﾒ
Hurricane Frances has decelerated business sales during September, which is traditionally the slowest tourism period in the Bahamas.
A floor manager at John Bull commented on this slow economic period which he claims Frances has contributed to.
ﾓNormally, business declines during September, so it may be fortunate that Frances hit at a time when it was usually slow compared to peak season when merchants would have really suffered a financial recession,ﾒ the employee said.
A sign of economic hope arrived in the port of Nassau on Thursday, when a Carnival Cruise ship docked. It was reported last week that Carnival took nearly 12,000 passengers to other destinations as Hurricane Frances approached.
But the arrival of the cruise ship was not enough to soothe frayed nerves of persons who depend on those passengers for economic survival.
Despite the arrival of the ship, several agitated taxi drivers complained that the ship did not have sufficient visitors to make a difference to their business.
ﾓWe were expecting four cruise ships yesterday, but not a one came in,ﾒ one taxi driver said.
ﾓThe tourists arenﾴt coming here. A cruise ship came in today, but not that many tourists came off. We were expecting more ships to come today, but they look like they may not arrive anymore today.ﾒ
The cruise business was expected to return to normal schedule Thursday with at least four major cruise ships docking at the port. But up to noon, only the Carnival ship was in town.
It was a sad site for many merchants, accustomed to the thousands of cruise visitors who pour onto Bay Street every day.
Candy Headquarters, the popular candy store on Bay Street that is usually crammed with locals and visitors, was deserted Thursday, leaving the sales clerks staring through the glass windows in apparent boredom. ﾠ
The store manager, who made the best of her time refilling candy containers, said it was ﾠﾓa trying time.ﾒ
ﾓSeptember has never been like this for us, not for candy sales, because everyone likes candy,ﾒ Yvonne Cartwright said.
ﾓWe were closed for six days because of the hurricane and that has hurt the business tremendously. We have a few Bahamians coming for candy, but our tourist market is completely gone. Itﾴs very slow for us. No ships are in which contributes to the slow economy at this time.ﾒ
She added that many businesses are trying to come to grips by putting Hurricane Frances behind them.
ﾓI am thankful that Ivan, a category five storm, went in another direction because The Bahamas would not have been able to withstand the blow of two terrible hurricanes back to back,ﾒ Mrs. Cartwright said.
Bianca Symonette, The Bahama Journal
