The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

AML Foods will have “mapped out” plans to develop a new shopping centre off Charles Saunders Highway, anchored by its Solomon’s “neighbourhood” food store concept, by early 2022 at the latest.

Gavin Watchorn, the BISX-listed food retail and franchise group’s president, told Tribune Business “initial design work” for the site opposite Gerald Cash Primary School has already begun and “expressions of interest” from businesses wanting to be part of the development have already been received.

While explaining that it was too early to give details, such as the level of investment, jobs created and number of retail spaces that will ultimately be available, he confirmed AML Foods’ intent to seek a joint venture partner to carry out the development.

Mr Watchorn added that AML Foods’ development plant for a site it already owns will ensure the group “works within our financial capacity and our human resources capacity”, with the objective being to give existing staff opportunities for promotion to run the new store.

“We have begun planning on that, yes,” the AML Foods chief responded, when asked by this newspaper about the Charles Saunders Highway location. “Our plan for that site is to create a shopping centre with a Solomon’s neighbourhood store as the anchor tenant.

“We’ve had interest from a number of businesses to be part of that centre. We’re in the process of some initial design work, and then will begin the conversation to find a joint venture partner to work with us on that.”

Confirming that no development timeline for the Charles Saunders Highway project has yet been established, Mr Watchorn said: “Our goal right now is to map out a development plan that allows us to hit our growth targets but also make sure we work within our financial capacity and human resources capacity. “We have a very big push on development that’s internal development, and setting and putting in place some structures that allow our existing team the best opportunities for development and promotion so that they run and manage these new businesses for us.

“We want to make sure we have a plan in mind with financial capacity and development of the team at the same time.” Mr Watchorn, though, said AML Foods was “not anywhere close” to pinning down specifics such as investment outlay on the planned Charles Saunders Highway shopping centre.

“I would expect that by the end of 2021 or early 2022 we will have the development plan mapped out much more clearly and be able to speak then where we’re going with that timeline for this new site,” he added.

The Charles Saunders Highway location would mark the fifth of AML Foods’ neighbourhood food stores, the BISX-listed group having previously unveiled plans to roll-out seven such outlets nationwide as part of its ambition to drive total annual sales to $250m by 2030.

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. All will be smaller than the larger destination-type outlets that AML Foods has focused on to-date.

Kwasi Thompson, minister of state for Grand Bahama, said the relocation of Solomon’s Freeport to the downtown area was a “tremendous” that will “bring life back” to one of the city’s “iconic locations”.

“The announcement by AML Foods is tremendous news for Freeport,” he asserted in a statement. “This will bring additional immediate construction jobs for Grand Bahamians. It will also bring much-needed foot traffic to the downtown area, which will benefit existing downtown businesses.

“This also has the potential to bring in additional businesses, restaurants and cafes to bring life back to downtown. This is one of Freeport’s iconic locations and is an important symbol and evidence of our recovery. Downtown Freeport’s future looks bright.”

AML Foods is targeting $12m in annual sales from its new Solomon’s Freeport location despite it being two-thirds the size of its former Queen’s Highway site. It  will re-open in March 2022 at the former Winn-Dixie (City Markets) site following a $3.5m investment, and is forecast to create 40 jobs.

The group 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.

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.

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.