Dockyard businesses say they have been hit by a slow trickling of customers in the winter months, but expect sales to pick up once tourist season starts.Audrey Brackstone, manager of the Bermuda Craft Market in Somerset, said business in the area was traditionally slow in the colder months.She said the market, which houses a collection of crafts from local artists, was “holding its own”, but relied on cruise ship visitors to keep business afloat.Unlike St George’s, which is projected to only have a handful of ships this summer, King’s Wharf and Heritage Wharf in Dockyard will have a majority of the 180 contract and occasional visit cruise ships scheduled to come to the Island.Ms Brackstone said she felt badly for businesses in the East End that were suffering and said the market would have a similar fate were it not for the cruise ships.“Whatever we can earn in the summer time sustains us over the winter and you need that otherwise we would be closing like other people and I do not want to do that.”She said the store was currently getting 30 or more customers a day, though many were just browsing before enjoying a movie or going to lunch.Ms Brackstone said the market has invited artists to do live demonstrations on Sundays and Thursdays as a way to attract more customers.“People like that. We have been doing that since the year 2000 and it really pays off.”Products like Pepper Jams, by Jam Factory and Outerbridge and Horton rum cakes sold well in the winter months, she said.Don Mason, who sells his jewellery designs exclusively at the Craft Market, said business was: “In one word dead”.The 83-year-old said sales so far this year had been close to non-existent, but admitted that overall he made a healthy living from his craft.He told The Royal Gazette: “We absolutely depend on the cruise ships. As soon as the ships are in some people have to get off because they are seasick and they come in and I start the demonstration.“They are glad to see something made in Bermuda, rather than China or Japan.”John Faulkner, a potter with Bermuda Clayworks, said weekends were fairly busy and said local visitors helped generate sales, particularly on Sundays.He said January and February were the quietest months of the year, but business would start to pick up next month when more tourists arrived.“The winter is slow, it’s like this, you get a few people trickling in and out and through the week its fairly quiet. It always has been.”Mr Faulkner said: “I enjoy the winter time and summer time. I believe the winter time is nice to get things [ceramics] made and the summer time is good for paying the bills, so financially the summer time is good.”An employee from Makin Waves echoed the same sentiments and said business was currently temperamental.“One week you will get busy and the next week it will die down,” she said.“It depends on how many tourists visit the Island and if they venture up this way. As soon as the ships come in that is when it will really start.”l Useful websites: www.experiencebermuda.com/dockyard