With less than a week to go before the start of the new school term on September 8, the back-to-school shopping season is usually in full swing.

But when Newsday visited book and school supply stores in Port of Spain on September 1, there was a notable lack of shoppers.

Despite the excitement over the Independence weekend, the streets were scant and the stores almost empty. The manager of Mohammed's Book Store said the slow pace wasn’t just because of the public holiday and had been the trend over the past few weeks, even as the new term draws near. She said she hoped the flow of customers would increase in the coming days as the return to school gets closer.