The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

MERCHANTS at Port Lucaya Marketplace are holding on by a thread, hoping for a speedy reopening of the Grand Lucayan Resort which is so vital to the island’s survival.

Store owners are experiencing one of the worst droughts in a decade since last October when Hurricane Matthew damaged and forced the closure of the resort property in Grand Bahama.

The loss of more than 1,000 guest rooms has had a devastating impact on Port Lucaya Marketplace, which depends on visitor traffic from the hotel.

There is some fear that the marketplace will suffer the same fate as the now derelict International Bazaar in Freeport which never recovered from the 2004 fall-out due to the closure of the hurricane damaged Royal Oasis Resort.

With no cruise ships in port on Tuesday, the marketplace was a like “a graveyard,” as one merchant described it.

“The situation is sad,” said Frances Gee, owner of Goldylocks Jewellery. “We are dying a quick death, not as slow (as at) the International Bazaar.”

Ms Gee indicated that everybody is affected by the closing of the hotel and casino.

“I think it is sad that everybody lost their job, and tourism is down. We are really relying on the (cruise) ship people coming in that are not spending their money.

“It is a sad situation. Everybody is holding on the hoping for the swift opening of the hotel because this is what we are relying on,” she said. “Everybody is hanging on hoping for better days.”

While the hotel reopening is critical, she believes that all-inclusive hotels like the Memories Resort are not really beneficial for merchants.

“All-inclusive hotels do not help us,” she said. “The guests don’t come out, and they stay there (on the property). We need people that will pay their hotel bill and come out and spend their money at Port Lucaya. If everything is all inclusive, they are not going to spend here when they can get there for free.”

Lauren Wells, the proprietor of Freeport Jewellers, fears that the marketplace will become like the International Bazaar.

“That’s our fear and sales have really decreased with that hotel being closed in a big way,” she said. “Today there is no cruise ship in, and you could imagine, here is like a graveyard.

“It is vital that the hotel opens because it is the lifeline for Port Lucaya.”

Ms Wells said although sales are down, merchants in the area are not doing as badly as some of the others.

“I mean for us, thank God we have the local business, so maybe we are not doing as bad as others because we do sell to locals. But if we were only selling items that were for tourists, we would have a big problem.”

While strolling through Port Lucaya, The Tribune observed some stores once occupied, now closed and vacant.

Ms Wells indicated that store owners are very concerned about the hotel’s reopening.

“I have not seen any stores closed, but I heard people saying, ‘it’s terrible for us.’ If the hotel does not open, we are going to have to make some big decisions.

“We need something to happen, and we need the government to get on that like asap, “ said the jeweller.

Ms Wells said cruise visitors do not spend as much money as overnight visitors staying in the hotels.

“If you have a customer staying overnight and they are looking at an item, the likelihood of them returning and purchasing it the next day is greater than persons who are only here for an hour,” she said.

The businesswoman said that big purchases had been cut down because cruise passengers are rushed through the marketplace by taxi-cab drivers who are in a hurry to get them back to the ship to bring another group of passengers.

Ms Wells stressed that it is vital that the hotel reopens.

Miranda Wells, the manager of the Unusual Centre, said business is very slow and the business had to let got one of the four employees at the store.

“It was tragic enough we suffered the hurricane, but the hotel has not reopened and it looks like nothing is going to happen – it looks as if we are headed in the same position as International Bazaar. I have heard nothing about when, or if the hotels will be up and running soon.”

Despite the soft economy, the store pays nearly $3,000 a month in rent.

“It is hard. We have three persons on staff now, but we had to lay off people. It is unfortunate, but there is nothing we can do if sales are down and we cannot pay them,” she said.

Minister of State for Grand Bahama Kwasi Thompson has asked Grand Bahamians to be patient as the government is in talks with the prospective buyer of the resort.

The Minnis administration, he said, is talking to the parties involved daily due to the importance of the hotel reopening for Freeport’s economic revival.