November 19th Sales during COVID-19
In some parts, at this time of the year, customers will be flocking to Thanksgiving sales just prior to the Christmas season. In Belize, the Garifuna Settlement Day sales have taken root and this weekend, major stores are making use of the holiday to bump up sales. For customers, it is generally the start of the Christmas shopping. Here is News Five’s Duane Moody with a look at what deals you can find.
Duane Moody, Reporting
Aside from being celebrated as Garifuna Settlement Day, the annual November nineteenth public and bank holiday is set aside by consumers to take advantage of the great deals that would be offered by businesses. Shoppers would often times plan activities around this day to do their Christmas shopping for curtains and household items well ahead of Christmas Day. But as we found out today, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and being socially responsible, many businesses, including Mikado Store, are not going to be open on the nineteenth.
Umesh Mahitani
Umesh Mahitani, Owner, Mikado Store
“We are not opening on the nineteenth for logical reasons; we have to be socially responsible. So we choose to have the sale the entire month of November, so you can get from ten to fifty percent off on lots of items for the entire month of November. December will be another story—we haven’t decided on that yet—but November you could pick up all the items that you would normally pick up on the nineteenth sale, you could pick it up for the whole month of November.”
It’s also a time where residents would purchase household items, including mattresses and TVs and treat themselves to appliances. But instead, Courts Belize Limited says that in lieu of the annual sale on the nineteenth, they are advising customers to take advantage of their great discounts of up to fifty percent on items in their stores countrywide.
Melanie Dunn
Melanie Dunn, Sales Rep., Courts (Belize) Limited
“You can come into any one of our court stores countrywide and you can get to enjoy our percentage which is up to fifty percent off on select items. What a great deal!! And it’s not like the nineteenth before which was ten percent across the board; it is up to fifty percent so why not come in now and get these promotions while they last. Tomorrow we will not be opening our stores, but we’ll have our ShopCourts.com and they will be having massive sales where you can get also get up to fifty percent off on selected items as well.”
An online platform where persons can purchase items is also being done by Cellular World. At their five locations across the country, shoppers will still be able to access stores – while of course adhering to social media guidelines. Karan Sabnani says that prices have been slashed, in some cases by up to fifty percent, and there is something for the entire family.
Karan Sabnani
Karan Sabnani, Owner, Cellular World
“This year as usual, it is our big extravaganza where prices are the lowest—not even Christmas, Agric—none of those events have these kinda prices. Obviously with COVID, all the protocols have been taken and we will having all the protocols with the sanitization and all this kind of requirements and also we will be having online shopping. We know that tomorrow will be a public and bank holiday; however, to facilitate online and to avoid crowds, we are allowing people to do their purchase tomorrow online.”
Duane Moody
“So the stores will be open?”
Karan Sabnani
“Yes; all five locations. This year, we are going into all five locations. It is the first time. To avoid crowds, we said open up all the stores so that people can go to whoever store is convenient for them. So, tomorrow, we are opened from nine a.m. to five p.m. and we encourage everyone to come out. These are the best deals of the year; early Christmas shopping. We are trying to make things affordable with COVID-19. It has become a demand for technology because that’s how we communicate now so we are just trying to make it affordable for everyone. We have tablets for kids for school starting at one hundred and fifty dollars; we have phones starting at sixty dollars; we have Bluetooth speakers and headphones at fifteen dollars – just a small gift for everyone. Basically you can come in with a hundred dollars and walk out with four gifts for Christmas for your kids. We also have a lot of deals on flat screen TVs; we know everybody wants a nice big TV. We have android TVs now. TVs are starting at four-twenty-nine for smart TVs, TCL and Samsumg. So there is a lot of deals; we just encourage people to come out. This is the time of the year to shop.”
Duane Moody for News Five.
