Business View Caribbean | November 2020

69 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN NOVEMBER 2020 JAMA I CA PLUMB ING SUPPL I ES L IMI TED suppliers are international; U.S. is the biggest market, then China, then the U.K. We also have Ecuador and Trinidad, and we buy from Canada occasionally. Some of our retail prices match the wholesale price of our competitors, so rather than a hardware store, people are buying from us. I think our customer service is next to none. We respect people, we love people, and we care for people.” Last year at this time, the new Superstore at Portmore was under final construction, hoping to meet the deadline for completion. It is now open for business and doing extremely well, even during COVID-19. Neil admits, “We thought it was going to be a bad time but it turned out to be perfect. Our suppliers told us that customers who used to fly to Miami to pick up all their plumbing supplies now just get them from us here in Jamaica because flights are restricted and we have all the variety they need. Our sales, even at the new store, have increased significantly. And it can only get better because the preparation was perfect. In Portmore, we have a much bigger warehouse than we had at the plaza location, and the storeroom is much larger. And now customers across Jamaica are asking us, “When are you coming to Montego Bay?” “When are you bringing that store to Negril?” We haven’t put a plan in place for that yet but we are looking in that direction very soon. We do sell to other areas in the Caribbean, but not regularly as I would love.” Jamaica Plumbing Supplies is definitely poised for growth in the years to come. For now, Winston Neil is very proud of how his company gives back. He shares, “We spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in import, so the impact we make on people’s lives is not just the people who work at Jamaica Plumbing. It’s every person who loads a container, every customer that picks up that container, every person that works in the plumbing trade in the country, we think we help make an impact in their life. And that’s how we’ll continue to serve.”