The typical chaos that rages every day before New Years Eve, with people crowded in the shops, it seemed like a dream.
The corridors of the Supermarkets looked empty with few people shopping and lining up at checkouts. Even at 12:00 noon a team from the Listín Diario toured the city and the traffic was fluid, there were no traditional stoppers characteristic of this time and time.
Some supermarkets placed offers of what people consume the most for December 31 or of “food just to snack on”, such as cured hams, teleras and cheeses. In one of the aisles that more people were observed, which were not that many, was the one with sausages and meats.
In shoppers’ carts the aluminum containers, meats, breads, cheeses and other ingredients were notorious used for easier dishes than those made on Christmas Eve.
Unlike the preparations for the holidays of December 24 and 25, the toy area of the department stores was completely empty. In most of the shops visited, They weren’t asking for the vaccination card at the entrance and in only one of them the speaker recalled the mandatory use of masks and distancing.
Another of the departments where a greater presence was observed, although not so high, was in the area of women’s clothing. Here some women took advantage of the occasional offer of blouses.
One of the cashiers of a visited supermarket assured that between the course of the morning and the beginning of the afternoon the presence of people fluctuates, but not in crowds like last week.
“You know that that may be because the virus is stronger”, He opined. Definitely, the trade was waiting for the celebration of the New Year partly because of the prevention against the outbreak of coronavirus and the new strain Ómicron and because many decided to wait for 2022 outside the city.
Commercial squares
The atmosphere in these centers was similar to stores and supermarkets, with the presence of few people in their corridors and food court. But nevertheless, the environment in beauty salons and hairdressers was totally differentas it was packed with men and women preparing for the New Year.
Street trade
The flow in the shops on Duarte Avenue looked slow at noon this Thursday, December 30, although the Informal sellers were laden with merchandise and waiting for buyers.
In a tour made by LIstín Diario through the area of Avenida Nicolás de Ovando and la Duarte, commerce was slow, since only some people stopped to see the merchandise, without even entering the establishments. The traffic was light in that areaAn outlook that may change this Friday, as it is the habit of Dominicans to leave shopping until the last minute. Lucas Pérez, owner of a business that sells informal clothing in Nicolás de Ovando, expressed the hope that this Friday trade will revive, because although he briefly said that “something has been bitten”, he added that sales have not been very good .
Merchants say
The president of the Dominican Federation of Merchants (FDC), Iván García, said that by the end of the year, the products that are sold the most are the groceries for sancocho.
He assured that the business has a sufficient inventory of these agricultural products in its warehouses such as cassava, yautía, yams, bananas, potatoes, onion, garlic and vegetables.
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