Orane (left) and Chen (right) By McPherse Thompson,
Staff Reporter
THE SUPER Plus chain of supermarkets and Grace, Kennedy & Company are set to spend tens of millions of dollars in the coming months to expand their businesses into Portmore, St. Catherine, as corporate entities seek to capitalise on the growing population there.
Super Plus chief executive officer, Wayne Chen, confirmed that they have acquired more than 20 acres of land at Naggos Head to build a supermarket of about 40,000 square feet.
Chief executive officer and chairman of Grace, Kennedy, Senator Douglas Orane, said the company has agreed to a developer's plan to set up a new and expanded building to house its subsidiary hardware store Rapid & Sheffield.
From his Christiana, Manchester office on Monday, Mr. Chen responded to queries from Wednesday Business. He said the growing population of Portmore was an ideal opportunity to expand the Super Plus chain, which already has a store operating out of the Portmore Pines Plaza.
However, he said Super Plus' intention was not to set up a store the likes of MegaMart, which offers a range of multifaceted goods and services. "Our concept is different from MegaMart," he said. "We're going for supermarkets, not wholesale clubs, but we'll still have the competitive prices."
Mr. Chen said the new supermarket should be established by mid-2002 and is a joint venture with property developers who will construct the building, while Super Plus will spend about $60 million to equip and operate the business.
Super Plus will also break ground for construction of a 30,000 square-foot supermarket at Burke Road, Spanish Town within another three weeks, Mr. Chen said. The company is expecting to spend some $40 million to equip that store.
Senator Orane, also responding to queries from Wednesday Business on Monday, said Rapid & Sheffield has accepted an offer from a real estate developer, who has his own land in Portmore, to put up a new building and lease it to the hardware company.
While the Grace, Kennedy chief executive officer could not say what would be the extent of the capital outlay on the enlarged business, he said "it will be a new and expanded Rapid & Sheffield for Portmore, which is expected to come on stream later this year."
Noting that the new store would be a far larger entity that the one currently operating in Portmore, Senator Orane said "this is something the people have been asking us to do for some time and we have responded."
Senator Orane referred Wednesday Business to director in charge of Rapid & Sheffield John Mahfood, and general manager Ian Jackson for information on the capital expenditure and extent of the expansion plans, but they were both unavailable for comment.
Rapid & Sheffield expanded into Portmore in late 1995, operating out of a 6,000 square-foot building at Port Henderson Road, near Naggos Head.
The company said at the time that the opening of a branch in the dormitory community was to offer customers better service, ensure more timely delivery of goods, greater shopping convenience, as well as provide better inventory control.
