Christmas shopping in “Back of Town” could help kick-start an economic revolution and cut crime, the chairman of a group set up to boost North Hamilton said yesterday.

Charles O’Brien, chairman of Beacon Collections, the leader of the Back of Town drive, said: “We want to get people, locals, who don’t even think about coming to this Back of Town area to come and shop.

“If they just do 10 per cent of their shopping there, they can change the face of Bermuda.

“That is a way that we can help with crime because people will get some employment.

“That is the way that they can change the face in the community.”

Mr O’Brien, who is also the chairman of the HI Group of companies and Bermy Distributors, said the Corporation of Hamilton and people in the area were working to make “Court Street, Union Street and Dundonald Street as safe as anywhere on Front Street”.

He told shoppers: “It is safe in Back of Town. It is safe to come here and patronise businesses. We welcome you here.”

Mr O’Brien said more people shopping in the area could benefit the entire island.

He added: “We are a community and we want people to come back here and see what it is and to reconnect because the only way that we are going to stop crime is through our buying power.

“And Christmas is a good time for them to come and see what is happening.”

Mr O’Brien said North Hamilton businesses supported the community by providing jobs to people who otherwise might struggle to get employment.

He added that he had nothing against the major retail areas, but that the Back of Town area should not be left out.

Mr O’Brien said: “We need to shop where people are doing more for the community.”

Mr O’Brien added that Court Street and its surrounding areas was more than just “nails and hair”.

He said: “There are a lot of success stories in Back of Town. There are a lot of activities in Back of Town.

“People are able to get a wider variety of local products in Back of Town. The stores sell things locally produced. Many of the bigger stores don’t.”

Mr O’Brien said the Back of Town movement, which encourages black businesses, now has its own website at backatown.bm, which lists more than 140 businesses in the north of the city.

He added: “They don’t pay a penny as long as they are in the Back of Town.”

Mr O’Brien said the website, which is now accessible, is 75 per cent completed and will be officially launched early next year.

Mr O’Brien added that the business listings site will be expanded next year to include St George’s and Somerset.

In an effort to encourage persons to shop in the north of the city, some businesses said they have specials on for the Christmas period and are encouraging Bermudians to enjoy these offers.

Rosheena Beek, of the Nubian Nook, which sells island-made products and books, backed Mr O’Brien.

She said: “It’s safe to shop here. The issue is a mindset.”

She said many businesses in the area give back to the local community and that North Hamilton offered an enjoyable shopping experience.

Ms Beek said: “I give people products when they don’t have the money and ask them to bring the money back.”

She added that residents and visitors had shopped in the area and reported good experiences.

Ms Beek said her store would also be opened to children from across Bermuda tomorrow at 6.30pm for a celebration of Kwanzaa, a one-week festival which runs from December 26 to January 1 and was designed to honour African heritage.

Dale Butler, the writer, community worker and former Progressive Labour Party Cabinet minister, organised a two-day shopping event where businesses on Angle Street and Union Street showed their appreciation of their customers.

Businesses taking part included food takeaway Fish and Tings, Atlantic Publishing House, Hendy’s Laundromat. Scratchie’s barbershop, and Ricky and Plush barbershop.

Mr Butler said the event, which ran on December 14 and 15, was a “mini getting to know you and thank you to customers”.

He added he hoped to do the same next year and that it would also help change the economic landscape of the area.