Competitors, mayor embrace PriceSmart Portmore
Investment will bring more business for everybody, says Azan
Published:Tuesday | April 12, 2022 | 12:11 AM
Grocers in Portmore, St Catherine, are embracing the new multimillion-dollar PriceSmart club set to open today, bringing an enhanced home-shopping experience to the largest residential city in the Caribbean.
Despite the expected competition PriceSmart – with its bulk purchase solutions that are geared towards offering cheaper products to consumers – will bring to the numerous supermarkets, wholesales and corner shops in the municipality and wider parish, some business operators believe it is a feather in Portmore’s cap as it pursues parish status.
Businessman Gassan Azan believes that while PriceSmart will bring competition to his MegaMart business, some loyal customers will remain with the supermarkets they previously shopped even as investments in Portmore boom.
“I think you’re going to find, like any new business, they will get curiosity shopping. What you have to do is hope your service levels are high enough that they will come back to you,” Azan told The Gleaner.
“I’m sure some [customers] will go there, but I’m sure that what it might do is bring more business into the area for everybody. Portmore is a very big area, y’know. From where PriceSmart is to where MegaMart is, is quite a distance, so you have to look at that also,” he added, wishing the management and staff of PriceSmart “the best of luck” with the new venture, which opens at 8 a.m. today.
Senator Don Wehby, group CEO of GraceKennedy Limited, which operates the Hi-Lo chain of supermarkets, expressed similar sentiments.
He said that competition that is welcomed for many reasons, especially given the fact that GraceKennedy is a supplier of PriceSmart.
“I would think that it would [bring competition], but one of the things that I would also mention to you is that PriceSmart is one of GraceKennedy’s biggest customers, so I don’t look at it as competition to Hi-Lo. I look at it as an increased positioning for the GraceKennedy Group of Companies,” Wehby told The Gleaner yesterday as he attended the launch of the store.
“It is a clear demonstration to me of PriceSmart’s confidence in Jamaica, … and that is exactly what our country needs for growth,” he added.
Wehby saluted PriceSmart for its green concept for the Portmore store, which includes solar panels and aims to limit its carbon footprint.
“This is something more businesses in Jamaica should be emulating,” Wehby said.
PriceSmart CEO Sherry Bahrambeygui said that the company aims to support small businesses in the country.
“When you support small businesses, you’re supporting the lifeline of other families as well, so we see our business as having not just a ripple effect, but we can empower so many more for people to be self-reliant, to enjoy the quality of their lives,” she said.
For his part, Portmore Mayor Leon Thomas was grateful for the jobs the multimillion-dollar investment would create for residents of the municipality, with 65 per cent of the 180 people it now employs living in Portmore.
“Many jobs were lost during the pandemic and with the inclusion of PriceSmart, many new jobs have been generated for our residents,” Thomas said.
He added that the 200,000 residents of the Sunshine City stand ready to support the second PriceSmart location.
“The addition of PriceSmart in Portmore is welcomed, as PriceSmart is a model company and Portmore is a model municipality,” he said.