Georgetown: Massy Stores, a regional supermarket chain, on Thursday opened the doors of its first supermarket in Guyana, which is also the largest supermarket in the country.
The mega supermarket features a wide range of high-quality products including fresh produce, chilled and frozen meat, prepared foods, a wide variety of local and foreign food, and general merchandise items. Additionally, the Massy Stores Supermarket offers a number of convenient, value-added services including a deli and bakery, butcher and fresh fish counters, an in-store pharmacy, ATM machines, MoneyGram and SurePay points of service.
The supermarket chain, which currently has 45 locations in the Caribbean, opened the doors of the mega supermarket at Providence, East Bank Demerara which rests on 16,000 square feet of land and cost about US$4 million.
Speaking at the event, Senior Vice President and Executive Chairman of the Retail Line of Business for the Massy Group, Thomas Patin related that the company was excited to open its doors in Guyana, as the market offered immense opportunities.
“We are so excited! This is big! This is not a big store…this is not just big to Massy Retail; it is not big to Massy, Guyana…this is just plain big, and we are really happy to be here in Guyana,” he stated.
He explained that the retail company had considered entering the Guyana market for quite some time, but opted to wait.
“We believe that being in the Guyana market gives us an opportunity to be more authentically Caribbean as we bring on board 120 Guyanese associates to create something new for this market. This is about bringing a new shopping experience to Guyanese consumers and sharing our best practices and best models across Caribbean territories,” he stated, adding that the construction of the second Guyana branch was already underway and it would be a “Massy Supermarket on steroids”.
“We have continued to incorporate best practices in the construction of our second store, already in progress, at the East Coast Movie Towne complex which is scheduled to open in 2017,” the company executive disclosed.
“This is not about entering the Guyana market to see how it goes, this is a full commitment to retail in Guyana. And before long, our second store will be open and we promise you that that too will be a phenomenal experience,” Patin declared.
President and Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Gervase Warner explained that it took immense work to make the establishment possible; however, he stated that the Massy Group of Companies saw it necessary to have a convenient shopping complex for Guyanese.
“We have been in Guyana for over 48 years, and over those 48 years, we have watched how Guyanese have to do their supermarket shopping,” he stated, saying that it is usually exhausting when consumers have to travel to several different locations to complete their grocery shopping.
He assured the public that Massy would be providing a unique and above- standard shopping experience to its customers. “We promise a transformational shopping experience, and not just because of the number of departments that we have under one roof, not because of the immaculate cleanliness and state-of-the-art technology that’s being used in the store, and it’s not because we have the best employees you could find in Guyana. We promise you the best experience you could ever have in shopping because that’s who we are. We are a force for good, creating value and transforming lives,” he declared.
In his remarks, Business Minister Dominic Gaskin related that Guyana welcomed the investment as it provided the opportunity for employment and development.
“We welcome this investment on many levels. And I wish to assure the Massy Group that the confidence that they have placed in our economy is not at all misplaced,” he posited.
He further stated that it was an opportune time for investors to establish and expand their business in Guyana.
“Guyana’s retail sector is becoming more and more competitive, with shoppers having more options, both in terms of stores and in terms of products. Our economy has responded well to these new developments and has demonstrated that Guyana has not just the physical space, but the economic space to accommodate an expanded retail sector,” he stated.
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