Cost of living ease to stay through Christmas

The Bounty Supermarket chain is to be expanded further next year with the setting up a fifth outlet on the East Coast Demerara, according to Water Street Branch Manager Gregory Camacho.

Water Street Branch Manager Gregory Camacho

The location of the proposed East Coast Bounty Supermarket is as yet unknown since, according to Camacho, “that would depend on where the land is available.” He told Stabroek Business, however, that the expansion of the Bounty chain “is part of a plan by the company to provide a high- quality service to shoppers across the country.

Camacho explained that while limits on the company’s management capacity precluded the continual expansion of its supermarket chain, Bounty would, nonetheless, be seeking to supply its outlets with “the range of our high-quality goods in order to enhance the quality of food available on the market.”

Last Tuesday Bounty opened its expanded Water Street Branch and according to Camacho the facility is intended to be a “walk-in supermarket” for shoppers in general rather than an exclusive facility.

Shoppers at the Grove supermarket

“We have deliberately kept our cost-of-living intervention in place for several months so that our shoppers can benefit from the special prices which we charge for essential items. We have every intention of retaining those prices in the immediate future,” he added.

Meanwhile, according to Camacho, the new Bounty Supermarket opened at Grove in September is beginning to impact on the surrounding communities. “Essentially what we have done is to change the culture of shopping in those communities. Rather than simply call for an item and pay for it over the counter, shoppers at our Grove facility now have an opportunity to do their shopping in a relaxed environment and to examine their goods and make choices. “We understand that it takes time for people to make the adjustment and we believe that we are getting there,” Camacho said.

The advent of the expanded Water Street Bounty Supermarket now means that there are more than half a dozen large supermarkets in Georgetown and its environs, Asked whether the extent of the competition does not now make further expansion of the sector untenable Camacho said that he believed that the key to success in the sector was “working hard to secure and maintain customer loyalty.”