Government regulations designed to limit the spread of COVID-19 have forced some business owners to rethink the logistics behind their Black Friday sales.
These new plans, coupled with global supply chain issues, resulted in smaller crowd sizes at warehouse and department stores across Grand Cayman this year.
“With COVID being pretty prevalent in our community, we knew we needed to break [up the crowd] a little bit,” said Cost-U-Less store manager Mary Reynolds.
For the past seven years, Cost-U-Less has been a hotspot for Black Friday shoppers on Grand Cayman. In recent years, customers had arrived as early as 2am and waited for the doors to open at 4am, at which time hundreds of shoppers stormed the narrow entrance to get their hands on discounted products.
However, pandemic-related public health rules restrict outdoor gatherings to no more than 250 people and indoor gatherings to 100 people.
This year, 75 shoppers turned up outside Cost-U-Less for the Black Friday sale. Reynolds told the Cayman Compass this was the result of an intentional crowd control management strategy, which was deployed in the form of a nine-day sale that began on Friday 19 Nov., and runs through Saturday 27 Nov.
A few miles south of Cost-U-Less, a slightly larger line of shoppers was forming outside A. L. Thompson’s at 5am in anticipation of a 6am opening.
“It does feel a little bit slower, a little bit thinner,” said Retail manager Daniel Murphy, who told the Compass that shipping issues resulted in less products, which in turn might have contributed to the decline.
“This year it has been difficult, because with COVID and everything going on, the global supply chain as we all know it is really a mess,” said Murphy. “We are facing situations where some of our inventory didn’t even make it.”
Priced Right, another warehouse store, chose to forego their annual Black Friday event. When Cayman Compass staff arrived at the Airport Centre, eager shoppers were turned away and told to return for 7am – during normal operating hours.
Black Friday is still a novelty concept that is beginning to take root in Cayman. However, in the US it signals the start of holiday shopping.
Murphy believes it has become a similar indicator for Cayman.
“Black Friday is fairly new for Cayman… but love it or hate it, it is definitely something that is here to stay in Cayman,” said Murphy. “It definitely is something to look forward to and it gets some excitement for the Christmas season.”
Related Videos
