The Tribune

* Shifting Solomon’s outlet to ex-Winn Dixie store

* Plans $3.5m investment with 40 jobs by March

* Latest step in ‘neighbourhood stores’ roll-out

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

AML Foods is targeting $12m in annual sales from its new Solomon’s Freeport location, its top executive revealed yesterday, despite it being two-thirds the size of its former Queen’s Highway site.

Gavin Watchorn, the BISX-listed food retail and franchise group’s president, told Tribune Business that it aims to do more with less space as it unveiled the latest phase in a neighbourhood food store roll-out that aims to drive total annual sales to $250m by 2030.

He voiced optimism that Solomon’s Freeport, which will re-open in March 2022 at the former Winn-Dixie (City Markets) site following a $3.5m investment, will “do all if not more of the sales” generated previously at Queen’s Highway despite being 10,000 square feet smaller.

The AML chief, though, explained that the group’s neighbourhood outlet strategy was based on reducing store footprint and associated real estate costs by cutting “back-of-house” areas. It will instead “maximise” space by serving these stores from a central warehouse location, which in Freeport’s case has been achieved by converting a portion of the Cost Right location for product/inventory storage.

With the return of Solomon’s Freeport predicted to create 40 jobs, Mr Watchorn expressed hope that it will “serve as a catalyst for the development of downtown Freeport” while also placing AML Foods “in prime position to service the entire western Grand Bahama area”.

“It’s never been a case of us not re-opening. It was a case of when and where,” he explained of the former Queen’s Highway location, which has been closed ever since it suffered multi-million dollar damage from Hurricane Dorian in September 2019.

“We were never anticipating not opening a second Solomon’s store in Freeport. That was never a discussion for us. It was a question of the right time and location. We’ve been doing a lot of work on this smaller format and, with our ability to service them from a warehouse, we don’t need as much back room space.

“During COVID-19 we were able to take part of the Cost Right location in Freeport and turn it into a central warehouse while minimising space for the new location. Real estate is expensive and we need to make sure we maximise space as well,” Mr Watchorn continued. 

“Our ability to use warehouse space in Freeport and Nassau is important to our overall strategy going forward. That’s the real difference between 20,000, and 30,000 and 40,000 square feet. Our customers will not see any significant difference, and we’re very confident we’ll be able to give them a great shopping experience in a smaller store.”

AML Foods has secured a long-term 30-year lease on the former Winn-Dixie location at York Street, but Mr Watchorn confirmed that Solomon’s Freeport will only use 20,000 square feet or two-thirds of the total 30,000 square feet available due to the Cost Right-based warehouse.

“We believe that store will garner all, if not more, of the sales we previously did,” he told Tribune Business. “Our expectation on the low side of projections is that it will contribute $12m a year, and we’re confident that over time it will do much more than that.

“Losing the store on the western end of Freeport, a lot of customers have said we’ve not been able to service them from Solomon’s Lucaya, so they’re telling us they’re looking to that opening to come back. We’re in prime position to service that area of Grand Bahama; not just downtown Freeport and the surrounding communities, but the entire western Grand Bahama area.

“AML and Solomon’s are committed to the Freeport market. We had a setback after the hurricane, but are now ready to re-open the store and transfer to a downtown location. Many Grand Bahamians have grown up with a downtown food store, and hopefully this will serve as a catalyst for the development of the downtown area of Freeport.”

Mr Watchorn added that Solomon’s Freeport’s opening in March next year will be its fourth neighbourhood food store, and second in Freeport, as it joins the Lucaya location as well as Yamacraw in Nassau and the recently-acquired Exuma Markets in Georgetown. He previously said there could ultimately be seven such stores that are considerably smaller than the larger destination-type outlets the group has focused on to-date.

AML Foods said in a statement that the $3.5m investment it will make in fitting out the new Solomon’s Freeport location aligns with its “lower capital investment goals”, and it pledged to hire Bahamian contractors and artisans to perform more than 80 percent of the work.

“The new 20,000 square feet store will feature a Solomon’s neighborhood format and will add approximately 40 new Jobs to the Freeport economy. We expect to open this latest location in March of 2022, and priority will be given to Grand Bahamians for all job openings,” Mr Watchorn said.

“Solomon’s Freeport sustained extensive damages and losses due to Hurricane Dorian, but our commitment to the Grand Bahama community never wavered; it was always our intention to reopen the store that serviced Grand Bahamians for almost 20 years. We were working on the plans and details throughout COVID-19 and we are now ready to move ahead with what we feel is a ‘great fit’ for both Grand Bahama and our company”.

AML Foods said it has hired Freeport realtor, James Sarles, to seek out a lease or sale of the Queen’s Highway property and promised to reinvest any proceeds into “future growth opportunities”.

As for the $1m renovation to Solomon’s Lucaya, Mr Watchorn yesterday told Tribune Business that customers would start to see the improvements “in a couple of weeks” after the completion date was pushed back two months - from mid-June to mid-August - due to supplier and construction delays, the latter caused by backlogs stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s nothing material, but we would liked to have finished the project a bit sooner for our customers,” the AML Foods chief said. “It was initially delayed because of Dorian, and then the beginning of COVID-19, so we are excited to complete this process and deliver a great experience for our customers.”