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Christmas decorations now luxuries, buyers, sellers wear long faces

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With few days to Christmas, the mood at some decorations and gift items stores in Ibadan on Thursday cannot be described as encouraging.

It was reported that basic Christmas decorations have become luxuries as sellers complain of low patronage while buyers lament their reduced purchasing power.

At the Dugbe Market, a seller, Miss Grace Aletile, said she had resorted to begging and using different encouraging words to persuade the people to buy at least an item.

“The prices of items make people turn their back and walk away.

“Three or four years ago, I would have been too busy attending to customers to grant this interview,” she said.

Aletile said the Christmas trees, usually in high demand, were particularly shunned this season.

“Every year, what we sell the most are Christmas trees and their decorations; by now, we would have lost count of sales recorded.

“This year, without checking the records, I can give the exact number of Christmas trees we’ve sold because people are not buying.

“They are not buying because the price has doubled compared to last year,” she said.

According to her, a Christmas tree of four feet, which cost N12,000 in 2023, is now N25,000; while a six-foot tree at N30,000 in 2023, is now N70,000.

“A seven-foot Christmas tree was N40,000 in 2023, but now, it is N100,000,” she said.

She said it was sad to see the business she started many years back with Christmas greeting cards struggling to survive.

“We started here by selling all kinds of greeting cards with the whole shop and outside always filled with cards.

“The decline in the purchase of cards made us deviate into other things that have to do with decorations.

“People no longer buy cards as before, which explains why we only have one rack left with greeting cards.

“Major buyers of cards this season are corporate organisations and businesses that want to include the cards in hampers for their customers,” she said.

Meanwhile, a seller of hampers, Mrs Abosede Bassey, described patronage as 90 per cent short of 2023.

Bassey says with the high cost of items put together in the hampers, they have become unaffordable for many.

“A hamper of N5,000 is now N8,000 and this is the cheapest you can get; the one of N8,000 last year is now N12,000.

“The plastic and wooden baskets we use are also now expensive.

“Our profit margin has shrunk because all we make goes back into purchasing the various items making up a hamper,” said Bassey.

A customer, Mrs Omolola Bakare, said she came to buy Christmas caps for her three children to attend their church’s Christmas carol.

According to her, she will use the decorations she acquired over the years to decorate her house this season.

“My children insisted on me getting them caps; that’s why I’m here today and I’m even surprised that Christmas caps cost as much as N4,000 per one.

“Our government needs to do something about the exchange rate because the prices of items in the market make you question your income and existence,” said Bakare.

Another customer, Miss Funke Ishola, who came to buy Christmas lights, described the situation as worrisome.

According to Ishola, the same lights she got at N1,800 in 2023 had shut up to N3,500.

“But really, it won’t feel like Christmas if there’s not at least a small decoration at home to signify the festive season.

“The price of the tiniest Christmas decoration can make you have a change of mind.

“Things are too expensive, and basic things are beginning to look like luxuries,” she said.

Oluwaseyi Oduneye-ogunwomoju

NEWSVERGE, published by The Verge Communications is an online community of international news portal and social advocates dedicated to bringing you commentaries, features, news reports from a Nigerian-African perspective. A unique organization, founded in the spirit of Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, comprising of ordinary people with an overriding commitment to seeking the truth and publishing it without fear or favour. The Verge Communications is fully registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as a corporate organization.

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