Two years after a fire destroyed its main warehouse at Ogle East Coast Demerara, Beepats Company Limited has commissioned a 75,400 square feet state-of-the art warehouse facility at Dennis Street, Sophia.
The multimillion dollar facility is expected to provide jobs for some one hundred members of the surrounding community.
Company representative Kristofer Beepat, youngest son of CEO Dennis Beepat, explained to those gathered at the commissioning that the company has over the span of its fifty year existence consistently faced challenges in securing sufficient storage space. These challenges, he explained were particularly difficult over the last two years as the fire which destroyed the Ogle facility, forced the company to rent space, which proved quite costly.
“The last two years have seen us renting warehouse space at very expensive cost. It was with this in mind, and looking to the next fifty years, that it was decided to build this new warehouse,” he stated.
The multimillion dollar complex sits on 2.5 acres of prime real estate sold to the company by McKwaik Incorporated, a holding company which manages properties owned by the People’s National Congress.
The steel building which was constructed by US company, Allied Steel Buildings, will serve as the company’s main supply centre and will according to the younger Beepat, allow for “quick receiving and delivery of goods to customers.”
“We will be able to offload a forty foot container within half an hour at this new site as opposed to six plus hours at our other warehouses and Regent Street store,” he said, adding that in the near future it is expected that “orders taken for goods in the administrative building will be sent electronically to the warehouse and by the time the customer has paid for the goods, they will be ready for delivery.”
The facility which was constructed at a reported cost of more than US$8M houses the warehouse which is equipped with all the modern facilities for storage, handling and inventory control systems; an administrative building; a vehicle workshop and a parking area.
The commissioning was attended by several members of the government. Minister of State Jospeh Harmon and Minister of Business Dominic Gaskin offered congratulations to the Beepat family while acting President Moses Nagamootoo in his keynote address referred to Beepat’s as a “buzzing beehive of business.” He noted that the area which houses both the warehouse and the recently opened Gifland Mall, another venture of the Beepat family is a “maiden spot” with a lot of potential for business.
“This area, Sophia, is an area that is a maiden spot for business and it has a reservoir of labour that you can tap into…I am glad that business people with money have come by to populate this area…I am very happy that you have chosen to open this warehouse in this area,” Nagamootoo said.
Beepat’s one of the leading product distributors in Guyana has become a well known household name in the country, distributing products from companies such as Nestle Caribbean Inc, Unilever Bestfoods, Reckitt Benckiser, Heinz Company Limited/Complan Food Limited and others.
The products they distribute can be found in the smallest corner shops in the country areas to modern, large-scale supermarkets in major metropolitan areas.
