Tradition dictates that Venezuelans, children and adults alike, wear brand new clothes on Christmas and New Year’s. Shirts, pants, dresses, stilettos and sneakers – all with that new smell and perfect, first-time fit. No wrinkles, stains or scratches allowed.
By AP News – Regina García Cano
Dec 21, 2021
But the dollar bills circulating all across the country might as well show the Grinch instead of Washington this year. The government’s loosening of controls on dollars may have made them easier to get, but it has also made them less valuable in Venezuelan shops, with dollar prices overall about 40% above those last year.
And that has threatened the tradition known as “estrenos,” or premieres – a practice already badly eroded by Venezuela’s sharp, yearslong economic decline.
People have been hunting for Christmas bargains, but often walk away from stores and market stalls empty-handed.
Marelvy Mallarino lives in Maracaibo, once the heart of the country’s oil boom and now a victim of its bust. She had not stepped into a mall for years, but decided to visit one in Caracas, the capital, while visiting her sister.
“Will it be enough? Won’t it be enough? We are counting the coins,” Mallarino said while waiting in an enormous line outside a store offering discounts on women’s shirts, shoes and denim on Black Friday. Venezuelans call it that in English, too.
One store offered fast-fashion heels, boots, wedges and sneakers discounted to $20 instead of $60. Headbands and other accessories were on sale for $1. At another store, cropped jeans for women were priced at $30, down from $100.
Those may sound like bargains abroad, but the dollar prices were much higher than even a year ago, and largely out of reach for people like Mallarino, who lost her business when the country’s oil industry collapsed and now lives off of remittances sent by her children in Perú.
After about an hour in line, she entered a store and grabbed a white short-sleeve top from a rack, flipping the hanger from one side to the other to inspect the shirt. She hung it back, looked around the store for less than 10 minutes and walked out, looking down and shaking her head.
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Read More: AP News – Inflation, even in dollars, dims Venezuelans’ holiday season
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