The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

COMMONWEALTH Building Supplies (CBS Bahamas) has seen business at its South West Plaza location grow at “over 15 per cent a month” this year, its general manager yesterday confirming the company was shutting down its Robinson Road location that “really caught a beating” during the road improvement project.

Brent Burrows told Tribune Business that during the New Providence Road Improvement Project, business levels at the smaller Robinson Road location decreased by as much as 60 per cent.

He added that the store was never able to recover due to a significant drop-off in customer traffic, suggesting that the popularity of the company’s South West Plaza location - where it is the anchor tenant - also played a factor in the decrease in activity.

CBS Bahamas is now looking to sell off inventory at the Robinson Road location, having already absorbed its eight employees at the South West Plaza store.

“During the road works we were down 60 per cent. We caught a beating, we really caught a beating,” Mr Burrows said.

“After the roadworks we probably only recovered 20 per cent of that 60 per cent.

“It wasn’t only the road works, however, the new store did have a factor into that as well. We found that after opening the new store our customers felt that they were not being offered anywhere near the amount of products and the same convenience of the new store, so we thought it was in our best interest to look at other avenues with that and we are pursuing some other things with that location.”

Mr Burrows said no firm decision had been made as yet on the fate of the Robinson Road site, but disclosed that the second floor of the building would serve as a CBS warehouse.

Mr Burrows said: “Down at South West Plaza things are progressing. Every month we see an increase in our sales, but it’s still tough out there; there are still lot of people looking for work.

“We’re very pleased with the location. We think we are in the perfect position for when the economy really starts to roll. The response from people in this area has been tremendous. This year alone we’re seeing growth like over 15 per cent a month as compared to last year. We see the economy gradually getting better, but we think also that our name is getting out there.”

He added: “One of the biggest challenges is that people have not fully been able to envision the changes we have made to the business as far as the product offering. A lot of people still think of us as just windows and doors.

“Although we re-branded as CBS Bahamas, when we get people in the store for the first time they’re still totally amazed at the layout, the product offerings, the array of housewares, lawn and garden supplies and so forth.

CBS opened in the $12 million South West Plaza back in late 2011. The plaza has close to 30 tenants.

According to Mr Burrows, the plaza is now fully leased.”We leased our last store just this week, so the plaza is fully leased. We have some good tenants,” he added.