Drax Hall evolving into commercial hub

Starbucks Jamaica is set to open the Caribbean’s first drive-thru coffee store later this month, having invested $60 million to set up an outlet at Drax Hall, a township that is rapidly evolving as a commercial hub in the garden parish of St Ann.

The drive-thru will bring the number of Starbucks stores in Jamaica to 11, including one at Island Village in nearby Ocho Rios, St Ann’s resort town, putting the operators of the coffee franchise a step closer to their target. Starbucks Jamaica wants to grow the chain to 15 stores within the next year and a half, with the next store already confirmed for Half Way Tree in Kingston this summer, according to Joey Epstein of Starbucks Jamaica.

Next door to the coffee house – and already seeing a flood of drive-thru customers since it opened on Tuesday – is St Ann’s fifth KFC restaurant, with Ocho Rios having two and St Ann’s Bay and Brown’s Town having one each.

The presence of two international fast food chains in Drax Hall has reportedly fuelled further business interest in the area that had already got a boost from the relocation of the luxury bus service Knutsford Express, which recently moved from rented property in Ocho Rios to its own spacious and modern complex in Drax Hall.

These three follow the establishment of the Elite Medical Centre, operated by Elite Diagnostics Limited; a gas station; and three used car dealerships that entered Drax Hall in recent years. The commercial developments have given St Ann residents another option for accessing goods and services, including those from the nearby community of Richmond, who have to contend with traffic congestion in parish capital St Ann’s Bay and tourism centre Ocho Rios.

While KFC has decided to delay releasing information about the new store until its official opening, Epstein said Starbucks Drax Hall was a 2,000 square foot facility with seating capacity for 36 customers and was weeks away from its official opening.

“We are hoping to open before the end of January. It’s the first drive-thru in Jamaica and the Caribbean,” said the Starbucks Jamaica director. We’re expecting heavy traffic. KFC obviously is going to trump us, but Starbucks will certainly pull its weight,” he said.

Epstein said the location was purposefully developed for the transient coffee drinker as well as commuters from Kingston, off the highway heading to Runaway Bay and beyond, and even persons coming from Ocho Rios.

With that in mind, Epstein expects that the new Starbucks location will capture its fair share of business from an estimated 30,000 vehicles that pass Drax Hall on a daily basis, a figure derived, he said, from research the company did.

Asked whether Jamaicans love coffee that much to drive business for Starbucks, Epstein said yes but added that revenue was not dependent on coffee alone.

“They love coffee, but they love our other offerings, so we’ve now launched a ‘baked in store’ product which essentially is freshly baked croissants, banana breads, and sandwiches that are put together in-house – all using locally purchased meats and cheeses, and what have you,” he said.

“Coffee is probably 25 per cent of our beverage sales. The vast majority is our cold beverages. That is upwards of 50 per cent of our beverage sales,” Epstein added.

Mayor of St Ann’s Bay Sydney Stewart said the new investments in Drax Hall would not only bring “additional revenue, additional employment and additional production”, but should take some of the traffic away from Ocho Rios, easing the congestion nightmare in the resort town.

The KFC restaurant at Eight Rivers Plaza in Ocho Rios, for example, has been cited as one of the main reasons traffic backs up along the bypass on a daily basis, and the mayor is hoping this will now ease somewhat.

“In a discussion last week with somebody who likes going to KFC, she told me she’s so excited because she doesn’t have to go into Ocho Rios or St Ann’s Bay so she will avoid the congestion,” said Stewart. “It’s easy to run out to Drax Hall and get her KFC and be back home as quickly as possible,” he said.

The mayor also said that with a number of buildings currently under development, he expected commercial activity in Drax Hall to continue expanding.

The level of activity, however, has already seen a build-up of traffic in Drax Hall itself, with the line accessing the KFC drive-thru backed up close to the North Coast Highway over the first few days of its opening.

Stewart said the St Ann Municipal Corporation, of which he is the chairman, is to reach out to Restaurant of Jamaica, operators of KFC, to discuss how to avert possible traffic problems.

President of the St Ann Chamber of Commerce Vana Taylor, too, has welcomed the diversion of some business away from Ocho Rios proper.

“That’s what I’ve said all along: Ocho Rios can’t take anymore. It is oversubscribed. The traffic is unbelievable,” said Taylor. “So I’m happy to know that all these entities are expanding. It’s fantastic and I appreciate it,” the chamber president added.

“These are good investments, which we always welcome and … we want to thank the executives of these corporate entities for continuing to invest in St Ann and for the employment opportunities, and we look forward to other major investments, especially outside of Ocho Rios.”

business@gleanerjm.com