TROUKLER
THE 60 DAY COMMERCIAL WONDER?
A new supermarket opened its doors last week dedicated to selling goods usually sold in a well known supermarket chain located in
Two months ago, passers-by suddenly noticed the pace of construction had suddenly accelerated at the site after a lull of two years and rumours started circulating of a surprise being planned in time for the election, even though its official date had not yet been announced. It is not known if the money to finish the construction of the building came from the Social Security Fund, but many people are reporting that most discretionary welfare payments by the Fund are being stopped or reduced.
After an unusual spate of pre-opening publicity provided free of charge by the state controlled broadcasting media, the opening day of the new supermarket saw long queues of shoppers forming outside. Reports say that, within a few hours most of the perishables such as onions and vegetables, had sold out. This was not unexpected since these goods had been in short supply in the country in any case.
Who are the people behind the supermarket remains a mystery. One unconfirmed report said that the Governor of the Central Bank, Francis Chang Leng was seen at the premises of the shop before the opening date, as containers of goods were being unloaded. But there is no indication that neither he nor the Central Bank has anything to do with it.
Neither is it known who is financing the operation. An expatriate interviewed by the state controlled broadcasting media, SBC, before the opening date and introduced as the manager of the supermarket, claimed that the supermarket had stocks worth over one million US dollars. He also claimed that stocks should last 60 days according to their market study, which he also claimed, had been undertaken over two months last year.
More intriguing is the claim by the expatriate manager on television that he does not anticipate any problem obtaining foreign exchange, after 60 days, to replenish stocks. Local traders still have to wait between 24 to 48 months to get foreign exchange from the banks for goods that have already arrived and sold. The foreign exchange pipeline established in 2003 ostensibly to streamline the availability of foreign exchange for imports has remained at over SR 500,000,000 – that’s US$ 40,000,000 at current official exchange rate.
Rumour has it that the goods sold at the supermarket were not subject to any tax on arrival and neither is the enterprise subject to price control. This, pundits say, is the reason why it can undercut existing retail shops on certain goods. Under the law the maximum mark-up allowed is 30% on landed costs, on which price traders have to pay GST.
The name of the new super market is Supa Save Discount Store. Obviously for its discount to make any commercial sense, it must sell the same goods cheaper than its competitors. But the competitors do not exist in reality as the country has been suffering from serious shortages of consumer goods due to non-convertible currency for the past ten years, and our importers had been left for dead after being deprived of import permits over many years.
Don’t be surprised if the supermarket closes its doors after 30th July. This could well be a 60 day commercial wonder.
STATING THE FACTS
The Seychelles Nation issue of Tuesday June 13, 2006, reporting on the newly opened supermarket, SupaSave, at Le Chantier had this to say: “Security officers (meaning police) had to be called in yesterday to control a long queue of eager shoppers as they flocked to the newly opened discount store, SupaSave, at the Le Chantier Shopping Mall.”
Further down in the same article the Seychelles Nation reported that, “Speaking to Business Nation at the end of what he has described as an incredibly busier day than anticipated, Mr Holezhausen said he was however satisfied with the way members of the public have behaved themselves”. If that was the case and the police was called, one would hate to think what Mr. Holezhausen, chief executive of SupaSave, would do when the public failed to behave. Your guess is as good as mine.
A faithful reader of this column called on Wednesday last week to inform us that 29 years ago it was the Seychellois who imported food stuff to feed the population. Today in the days of the internet and mobile phones we need the help of foreign nationals to bring in food to feed our people. What do you think a step forward or backward? Is it not time for change?