mar-2018c

32 33 PREFERRED VENDORS n Ace Hardware International www.acehardwareintl.com In business since 1924, Ace Hardware is the largest home improvement franchise company in the world, with over 4,950 stores operating in over 60 countries, and total annual sales of $5 billion. Ace provides its international retail partners with the requisites to build a solid enter- prise - the foundation and market exclusivity of a globally recognized brand, a business model that offers operational flexibility and market localization, a worldwide distribu- tion network that delivers access to thousands of products, and a team to provide support from its bank of world class practices. n Star General Insurance www.stargeneralbahamas.com Star General Insurance is a Bahamian-owned and oper- ated company with offices in Nassau, Freeport, and Abaco. Founded in 1987 to serve the general insurance needs of the lower income segment of the community, Star General now provides a full range of general insurance products for individuals and companies. These include: Homeowners’, Fire & Peril, Commercial Property, Motor, Marine & Aviation, Liability, Contractors’ All Risk, Professional Indemnity, and Commercial Bonds. Through its Life and Health Division, the company provides Life and Health Insurance plans on both a group and individual basis. n General Electric Appliances www.geappliances.com GE Appliances is an appliance company headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky. It is one of the largest appliance brands in the United State with a 14 percent market share. It manufactures appliances under the brands of GE, Profile, Cafe, Monogram, and Hotpoint. The company was bought by Haier, a Chinese conglomerate, in 2016. industryaround us andwe are always trying to find out what drives our customers’businesses and howwe can support them.For example, within the last ten years,part of our focus was to build up an inventory that will support a ship care facilitywith standard,small items that are needed for ship care.We also have companies,such asmachine shops,that deal with a lot of steel repair.So,we had to diversify our inventory to include those things that they would need.We also operate the premier lawn and garden facilityon the island.”DollyMadison Home Center is also the onlycompanyon Grand Bahama that offers warrantyon products we sell,as well as repair service bycertified technicians for all its appliances. Rolle reports that,going forward,the Center’s management team is hoping to offer morewhole- sale items to its customers bybundlingmore items, rather than selling thempiece bypiece. THE DOLLY MADISON HOME CENTER