Cave Shepherd cuts, shifts soon

(Barbados Nation) Hit by falling sales, the company which operates Cave Shepherd, Barbados’ biggest department store, is rolling out a two-year plan to revitalize its businesses, but some employees will lose their jobs in the process.

In a statement issued yesterday, Duty Free Caribbean Holdings (DFCH), which operates 70 stores in the region, including local retail companies, said it had been battling an extended period of depressed economic conditions not only in Barbados but throughout the region.

A major part of the restructuring plan, the company revealed, will include contracting space in its Broad Street, Bridgetown flagship store to independent operators.

Chief executive officer of the local office, Peter Allan, explained that over the past four years, DFCH, like many other companies in the region, had suffered the effects of the global economic downturn, which had resulted in a decline in sales mainly in the duty-free operations.