What happened to the tradition of rubber boots?
During the recent experience with Keith many Belizeans discovered that a once proud tradition had somehow been neglected. Ann-Marie Williams asks why.
Yvonne Vernon, Sales Clerk, William Quan
“The sales would increase during the rainy season, the hurricane season, and when school is about to re-open, people would be asking for boots for children.”
And during the passing of Hurricane Keith, sales doubled says sales clerk Yvonne Vernon.
Yvonne Vernon
“Well just before the hurricane that Saturday, we had a good sale with boots and since the hurricane and there’s a lot of flooding, we’re still selling more boots.”
Simon Quan Store can be easily considered a boots institution, as thirty-five years ago when the Queen Street store was just a mere grocery shop, they were selling boots to the Belizean consumer.
Sales manager Peter Quan says that unlike William Quan most of his buyers are not individuals.
Peter Quan, Sales Manager, Simon Quan
“Most of the institutions, for example the government through the Human Development Department, the Belize Red Cross and other corporations, have step forward and asked us to assist them to give them a better price or deal. In terms of the household it has been sporadic, families that have relations in Caye Caulker or San Pedro or in the Belize River Valley, they would come in and pick a few items here and there.”
Ann-Marie Williams
“Growing up in Belize City, a pair of rubber boots was once considered a household staple. Every house would have a one size fits all pair that members of the family would use from time to time. At the start of school, parents would shop for their children’s boots as they would school supplies.”
Peter Quan
“Six or seven years ago we used to carry exclusively brand, Sebo; made in Czechoslovakia. However, because of the rising cost, especially in that country and their quality, we’ve had to focus more on a lower budget brand, that is why we bring it mostly from China now.”
But although the few stores, which sell these boots, do not report a rise in cost at this time, it seems as though the people who need boots most don’t have them. Gloria Williams of the flooded Belama Phase Three area remembers fondly when every house had that waterproof footwear.
Gloria Williams
“Well when it used to rain very hard and the water would rise, everyone would use the boots, but now it’s like they went out of style.”
(Little girl barefooted)
And what’s her reason for not having a pair?
Derek Allen
“She don’t use rubber boots, only those occasion that we have floods, so we don’t need no rubber boots. We have floods right now, but I don’t have the finance to buy no rubber boots, not at this time.”
Ann-Marie Williams for News Five.
While researching this story we found that Brodies, the store that has traditionally supplied rubber boots to most Belizeans, is totally out of stock, having run a big clearance sale in August.
