A multi-million investment project announced ten months ago by one of Barbados’ leading supermarket chains has been delayed.
And the head of Trimart Supermarkets Trinidad and Tobago parent company ANSA McAL Group has revealed that the wait for “regulatory approvals” has “negatively impacted revenue growth and profitability in the retail sector”.
News of the delay broke in Trinidad last Friday when ANSA released its unaudited financial resorts for the nine months ended September 30.
The conglomerate’s chairman and chief executive A. Norman Sabga said as his company’s Barbados operations “continue to adjust to the challenges in the current economic environment”, the Trimart delay was a concern.
“In Barbados, the re-opening of the Trimart flagship supermarket store has been delayed, pending regulatory approvals and this has negatively impacted revenue growth and profitability in the retail sector,” he said.
Sabga added that ANSA was “confident of recovery and continue to invest in the businesses” in Barbados.
On January 10, Trimart announced the relocation of its then Haggatt Hall branch and said a new flagship outlet “will be moving to new premises owned by parent company ANSA McAL (Barbados) Ltd.”.
At that time, ANSA Barbados chief executive officer and president Nicholas Moutte, who is also Trimart chairman, said: “What we are actually doing is reinvesting millions of dollars in Barbados by building a world-class supermarket on one of our own properties.
“However, we need to complete the approval process before announcing further details of the new location and when it will be up and running. There will be some down time when we will be constructing and outfitting this new store, but we now have to vacate Haggatt Hall by the end of February and that means regrettably that we will have to release our staff at that branch until the new area is completed.”
The company also said that those currently employed at the Haggatt Hall location “will be displaced by its temporary closure and it is expected that many of them will be rehired when the new state-of-the-art supermarket reopens”.
Following Trimart’s departure from Sky Mall, Haggatt Hall, Massy Stores, formerly Supercentre Supermarkets, opened a new supermarket there in August. Trimart currently operates supermarkets at Mile-And-A-Quarter, St Peter, Rendezvous, Christ Church, and St Martins, St Philip.
