Published: 22 April 2014

THE Easter Holiday has come and gone, leaving business operators counting their losses. A snap survey by Chronicle at different businesses showed that business was low and sales had gone down compared to previous years.

Fast food outlets which are usually busy felt the pinch as business was low.

Phillip Phiri of McInn, a fast food restaurant in Bulawayo, said sales had dropped by 40% this Easter compared to previous years.

"Civil servants, especially teachers, were paid last week but there was nothing to show in terms of business. Normally Easter Monday would bring brisk business as people would be coming back from holiday. Big suppliers have resorted to using text messages to promote their products and for a marketer that is a sign of low business," he said.

"Business is tough. It is generally low because of the liquidity crunch that is killing business."

Phiri said they were pinning their hopes on the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair which starts today to up business.

A beauty therapist who preferred to remain anonymous said: "We only had a few clients on Thursday and Good Friday but all the other days, business was very low. On Sunday, we had no clients at all and today just a few came," she said.

A shopper who identified herself as Eunice Maseko from Morningside said she could not shop as much as she wanted because of the cross rate.

"We usually meet as a family during Easter as those who are in South Africa would have come home but this time we did not spend much because of the cross rate. You would find they would have used more rands than they used to in previous years.

"We hope the rand will improve on its value because that is the currency we use most of the holidays," she said.

Shoppers acknowledged they could not go on an Easter egg shopping spree as they would normally do.
- chronicle

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