Less than two weeks be­fore Christ­mas, there was no hus­tle and bus­tle at the main shop­ping cen­tre—High Street, San Fer­nan­do, yes­ter­day—caus­ing con­cern among some busi­ness own­ers.

Shop own­ers say they have re­duced prices to at­tract bar­gain-hunt­ing cus­tomers, not­ing that shop­pers are look­ing for deals more than ever this sea­son.

De­spite the slow sales, Ki­ran Singh, pres­i­dent of the Greater San Fer­nan­do Area Cham­ber of Com­merce, said the pat­tern ap­peared to be nor­mal. “High Street tra­di­tion­al­ly sees last-minute shop­pers,” Singh said. “We ex­pect sales to pick up clos­er to Christ­mas.”