Regional Report: Second hand clothes dealers in Bolgatanga lament over low patronage

Correspondence from Upper East:

Second-hand clothes dealers in Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region have complained bitterly of low patronage in their business.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Ghanaweb's Upper East Regional Correspondent, Sarah Dubure, most of them intimated, the decline started in April 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic struck.

'Naira power' believed that he had very nice clothes on display for sale and yet, patronage was poor. He blamed the situation on the COVID-19 with its attendant lockdown that has wrecked a lot of havoc.

Naira power said that he used to make as much as GHC400 - GHC600 a day, but as of that day, he sold as low as GHC50 worth of clothes and was wondering how he would cater for his children, following the situation.

Mr. Alhassan Salifu's case was not any different. According to him, he could make as much as GHC300 to GHC500 a day, but the current situation has enormously affected him, as he now makes as low as GHC25 cedis a day.

He lamented that he has children to see through at school, and was wondering how he would cope, with the situation at hand.

Madam Florence Pukpeoug noted that business was vibrant until the pandemic reared its ugly head. She explained that suppliers used to supply them with a lot of second-hand clothes, but currently, they are not able to get much to sell. She added that the situation has rendered them financially broke.

"They used to buy things but nowadays, because of the corona, they don't buy anything, and at first,things used to come, but now because of the corona, things are no more coming again. The market is down, because of that we don't even know what to do. Things are just not going on well for us. So we are just managing small small". She complained.

Mr. Moses Akolgo, was of the view that business was bad because people were scared to go to the market for fear of contracting the COVID-19 virus.

He added that some people were also of the belief that when they buy second-hand clothes, they would contract the virus.

"Because of the pandemic, people are scared to come out to the market because they feel that when they come to the market because the place is crowded, they may contract the coronavirus. Therefore people scarcely come to the market, and even some of them have the belief that there might be virus inside(clothes) therefore, our market wasn't encouraging at all. The sales that we used to make is no longer like that". He explained.

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