January 30, 2013 at 5:54 p.m.
Tough times: Retail strife
True Reflections closes doors after two decades
True Reflections will shut up shop next month.
Owner Annie Young blamed the demise on the recession and fewer cruise ships stopping in Hamilton for the past two years.
The store employs two full-time staff and a part-time worker along with Ms Young.
She said: “The economy has affected us, affected sales. Plus no cruise ships coming up to Front Street has hurt us.
“We didn’t get any passengers or tourists from them and we rely on those tourists.”
Ms Young said that North American tourists in particular found her shop unique.
She added: “They would come in and spend hours looking over everything but we didn’t get that the past two years so it pushed us back a bit.”
Spending
Ms Young said people who downplay the importance of cruise ship passenger spending are wrong.
She believes every dollar spent by a cruise tourist is a benefit to retailers.
She added: “We need them. Even if they spend $10 they are helpful to the economy. Even if all they buy is a chocolate, it is help to the shopkeepers.
“It is so unfortunate that we didn’t get so many cruise ship passengers. That was a real kick in the pants.
True Reflections specialises in merchandise with an afro-centric theme.
Ms Young’s daughter Valerie started the store 21 years ago after experiencing racial hatred while in the U.S.
Ms Young said: “She came back from Ohio after having bad experiences with the Ku Klux Klan, who chased her into her room. When she came back she decided it would be nice to have cards with black faces on them so people could reach out and be proud of their heritage.
“She started at home with friends selling greeting cards and expanded to other bits. She started selling in Dockyard and the items were a hit with the tourists.
Toys
Ms Young said “We then found a pokey little place on Court Street. It was dark and small but we did very well.
“Then we eventually moved to the corners of Parliament and Reid and then here 10 years ago.”
Ms Young has not decided what she is going to do after the store closes. She said: “We’re going to keep the toys because they sell very well, as do the hand lotions and shay butter.
“I have a peddlers’ licence so I’ll have to stand under a tree and sell my wares on the days it’s not raining.”
Ms Young said the saddest thing about closing True Reflections is that younger people “will lose some of their heritage.”
She added: “It’s a shop for their heritage.
“It’s going to be sad because they don’t teach it in schools unless the teacher will give them something extra on black history.
They do it in February but they need to do it all year round.”
Special report: Tough times
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