Bay Street merchants yesterday said they were cautiously optimistic that last year’s Junkanoo bleacehr fiasco will not be repeated, after government officials promised to place and remove the seats in a timely manner, reducing any negative impact from a decrease in local and tourist consumer traffic.
Ryan Knowles, frnachise owner of the Duty Free Liquor Store on Bay Street, said that following meetings with the Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, Neville Wisdon, me,bers of the Junkanoo National Corporation and representatives of C3, the company that will agaon supply the bleachers, merchants were assured the seating would be put up the night before the parades and taken down the night after.
Mr. Knowles said sales for the Christmas 2003 period were dramatically impacted, with a severe reduction in walk-in traffic resulting in sales losses of some 30-40 per cent a result of the bleachers’ placement. They were up for the entire Christmas week, traditionally one of the strongest shopping periods for merchants and the primary period when Bahamians brave the traffic to shop downtown.
Source: Yolanda Deleveaux, The Tribune
