Small businesses cash in on White Sunday sales

By Marc Membrere 14 October 2020, 2:00PM

A local business has cashed in on last weekend’s White Sunday celebration to see sales last Friday increase by a mammoth 1400 per cent.

Sandra Laufili of Saleimoa, who has a stall at the Savalalo Flea Market, told the Samoa Observer that the value of the sales his stall generated in the lead-up to White Sunday was enormous due to an increase in customers shopping for white clothes.

"The money I got on Friday was $3,000 but on Saturday it was $4,500," he revealed in an interview.

In recent weeks his stall only makes $200 tala on a Friday and it has been that way for some time.

Items such as lavalava, which were selling for $10 as well as ear-rings, clothing and $80 dresses were in high demand at Mr Laufili’s stall and he also offered discounts to his customers as a goodwill gesture.

Another local business Arra Sewing, which is run by Ana Fidow and her son Richard Kurt Schmidt, expressed similar sentiments about the White Sunday weekend being busy in terms of customers.

Mr. Schmidt told the Samoa Observer their white clothes were sold out by Wednesday, especially dresses for girls for their first communion and White Sunday for Catholics.

He said most of their customers wanted to buy clothes and dresses and they did make extra sales due to the large number of customers. 

But the restrictions on trading hours, brought on the state of emergency [SOE], continues to impact their business according to Mrs Fidow as they can only trade from 6am to 6pm.

According to her, they needed more time to trade over the White Sunday weekend due to the large number of customers. 

"This is the busiest White Sunday for us," Mrs. Fidow added.

By Marc Membrere 14 October 2020, 2:00PM

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