Food City closes, new supermarket coming

The supermarket Food City has been closed and will be replaced by Consolidated Foods Limited out of St Lucia.{{more}}

Sir Louis Straker, Chairman of National Properties, made the announcement at a press conference last Friday, July 1.

According to Straker, Food City was officially closed last Thursday, June 30.

He cited government’s and National Property’s failure to maintain a profit during the operation of the supermarket as the reason for privatizing the company.

“The government saw it fit to take away the sugar and seeds from the supermarket operation in an attempt to run it in a better way,” Straker explained.

However, he added that once these two items were removed, it was difficult to keep the supermarket in a viable position.

“We were not able to inject the necessary capital to keep it floating, and so we invited interested parties to take over the supermarket to run it in a profitable way and create greater competition in the retail distribution of groceries,” the Chairman said.

He defended the decision to privatize the supermarket, saying that the consumers were the ones expected to see the savings.

This because according to Straker, the trend in the country was that the majority of family owned supermarkets created a structure that kept prices up.

“So with good competition coming, we are sure that our country and people will be well secured,” Straker contended.

The company will be renting the space formerly occupied by Food City, and according to Straker, 60 per cent of the shares will be owned by the St Lucian based company, with the remaining 40 per cent divided among National Properties (30 per cent) and employees (10 per cent).

Straker also assured Vincentians that the spot was not being sold, but that a leasing arrangement had been reached. (DD)