The store manager, who insisted she didn’t want her name or her boss’s published said they had been recognizing that the proverbial end would come.
“We knew it was coming,” she said adding that the economy was to blame.
She confirmed that they received a 30-day notice from their employer on June 3.
“We knew it would end this way. Every day, Garapan appeared like a ghost town. There are no tourists and residents are not spending,” she said.
It has been months she said that their sales had not seen any improvement. They had been in the red for a long while.
“Obviously, this is our worst year!”
Asked for figures, she said she could not disclose any as their accountant is the only person privy to the finances.
She said since they put out the sale sign outside the store, they saw a rapid decline in inventory.
“In a week’s time, all our items were almost sold out,” she said.
Asked if she could assist this reporter in communicating with the Treasures Inc. owner, she said she couldn’t as the owner is still in Japan and communicates only through e-mail.
Asian Accents, which sells furniture, gift items, clothes, and other products from Bali, Indonesia and other Asian countries, first opened in the defunct La Fiesta a decade ago and branched out to the Comete Building in 2004.
She said the other company, Pure Colors, across from the DFS Galleria, closed down yesterday as it already sold out its inventory but the employees remained to clear the place.
She told Variety that there are six employees for both Asian Accents and Pure Colors; of the six, one is resident and the rest are contract workers.
She also said one was lucky to have found another job.
She also said they are still waiting for further instructions from their employer who may arrive from Japan “anytime.”
“What can we do? My boss had thought about it for so long and it’s obvious that we couldn’t keep the store open any longer,” she said.
If two businesses closed doors, another is opening.
Dasom store on Middle Road beside Monika’s Gallery and across from EZ Mart ceases to be known as Dasom but will soon be given a new name by its new owner.
Gabriel Arkoh, an air-conditioning technician originally from Ghana, said he took the reins of the store from its former Korean owner who decided it could no longer keep his business afloat.
Arkoh, who used to work for MMC, said he took over the store from the Kang family last month by acquiring the remaining inventory and he made an arrangement with the lessor.
He said the lessor told him to try the Dasom space on a monthly basis and see if the business would work out.
Arkoh said he pays $550 monthly rent for the Dasom store space.
Despite the slow economic activity on island, Arkoh told Variety that he wanted to try it out.
He said it has been two weeks now that they have been fixing the store and filling the racks with items.
He said he plans to re-open Dasom Store with a new name sometime in July or early August.
In the meantime, he said, he is still working out a loan with the bank to see if he could secure the loan he needed to jumpstart the business.
Asked why he chose to acquire the business, Arkoh said, “It is good to have your own business rather than working under the sun.”
No matter how gloomy the economic climate seems, Arkoh said he remains upbeat. “I believe the economy will get better.”
