Water Street stores facing challenges to stay afloat as COVID-19 cases rise

Oriental General Store

As the number of COVID-19 cases continue to rise, business owners in Georgetown, particularly those along Water Street, over the past four months, are facing multiple daily challenges including a decline in sales as they struggle to stay afloat.

Radha Sahadeo, manager of Bhagwan’s Clothing Store, spoke of the struggles that her business is facing due to the massive decline in sales. “[We aren’t] getting any sales, people ain’t coming in [and] sometimes we don’t get any sales for the day,” she lamented.

Sahadeo detailed that because of the restrictions that were placed on her business which were only recently lifted, the store is only able to operate at 20% of its full capacity, especially since the incurred expenses stand tall over the amount of income obtained. “I can tell you because I [also] do the accounts, we don’t cover the expenses… so in terms of paying salary and so on, it’s like the scrapings.”