Jeff Butler- Owner Butlers Specialty
By NEIL HARTNELLTribune Business Editor
A FREEPORT-based food store owner last night confirmed he had signed an agreement to lease 20,000 square feet in the Home Centre, the retail operation owned by BISX-listed Freeport Concrete, with hopes of having the new business operational by June.
Jeff Butler, owner of Butler Specialty Foods, said the expansion and opening of a second retail outlet would likely involve an investment of greater than $3 million, when initial inventory was included, and create "another 40" jobs at a time when the country was crying out for employment opportunities.
"We have an agreement in place with the Home Centre. We're trying to get as much out of it as possible," Mr Butler said when contacted by Tribune Business yesterday.
"We've agreed to lease, some time in the near future, 20,000 square feet and have the most modern specialist health food in the country. We represent 20 countries and do all the high-end stuff.""
Mr Butler said the new store, which will be sub-leasing space from the Home Centre, was likely to begin operations by June. He added that the necessary Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) licences, plus agreements with the landlord, insurance companies and suppliers were all in hand, but outfitting the store via electrical and plumbing work remained to be done.
"The new place will be 100 per cent retail for the public," Mr Butler told Tribune Business, explaining that the new location would enable him to better split his retail and wholesale businesses at his existing location. The current business mix is 50/50.
The Home Centre location, he added, provided enhanced parking, square footage and customer accessibility. It would attract clients from the Eight Mile Rock and West End constituencies, and was situated within a short drive from areas such as Bahamia, Downtown Freeport and the Xanadu area.
Among the new store's features will be a European-style take-out, liquor store, baked goods and espresso service, Mr Butler adding: "We want to stimulate Grand Bahama as much as we can."
The lease agreement will benefit both Home Centre and its parent, Freeport Concrete, which have both been struggling financially, not to mention their chairman, Hannes Babak, from whom the former company leases its store.
Freeport Concrete holds a 15-year lease, starting from January 2006, on the Home Centre store. Its landlord is a company related to Mr Babak.
Under the Home Centre lease terms, the retailer was supposed to pay an annual rent of $396,000, or $33,000 per month, for the first four years, taking it up until June 2010.
However, the Home Centre received an $8,000 discount for the first three months of its lease, taking rental payments to $25,000 per month, and was subsequently granted further four-month rent holiday during its 2009 fiscal year. The sub-leasing plan comes after trading in Freeport Concrete's shares was suspended upon the company's request, in an effort to give it time to complete its fiscal 2009 audit. The extension expires later this month.
"We are looking at ways to cut costs at the Home Centre, and one way is to sublease part of the building we are in," Ray Simpson, Freeport Concrete's chief executive, told Tribune Business previously.
You can read Jeff's personal statement issued on his new site HERE
