OCHO RIOS, St Ann — There is mounting enthusiasm among retailers and shoppers across St Ann for the Jamaica Observer’s celebration of FASHION’S NIGHT OUT today.

Last year, the much celebrated five-hour shopping experience brought a lot of excitement to this resort town and this year both retailers and shoppers are expecting an even more thrilling night of shopping.

Some 89 stores, majority of them in Ocho Rios, and others in St Ann’s Bay, Brown’s Town and Runaway Bay have signed on to FNO and will be offering customers massive discounts on goods and services.

Neville McIntosh, branch manager at Bashco — one of several new stores that have signed on to FNO this year — is upbeat about the likely boost in sales the event should bring to his store.

“I’m feeling very positive about Thursday night, it’s the first we will be participating, but I think it will be very good,” McIntosh said Tuesday, noting that Bashco would be offering discounts of between 20 and 30 per cent on a range of items.

And, shoppers are equally excited.

“Last year was super great. I got a lot of stuff I would not otherwise have purchased unless they were discounted, it was really good and I’m really looking forward to Thursday night,” said Nicola Bryan, a resident of Ocho Rios.

“It’s one of the best things that has ever happened to Ocho Rios in terms of shopping and this year I realised that a lot more stores have the FNO poster up, so I’m really looking forward to all the bargain and stuff,” added another resident, Hortense Miller.

The president of the St Ann Chamber of Commerce, Kumar Sujanani has lauded the Observer for the initiative and said that he, too, anticipates an even more successful event this year.

“I’m absolutely very pleased to see events like this, anything that simulates commercial activity, I view as being positive and good for the community, and I applaud the Observer for taking on this initiative.”

Sujanani said while there has been a noted decline in the spending power of residents, primarily because of the decrease in cruise ship arrivals, but he was still hopeful that the event would benefit the business community.

Meanwhile, the St Ann police said plans are in place to beef up security in the areas where FNO activities will be taking place.