Sitting in his office at the Pasea location of Clarence Thomas Limited on a recent Thursday afternoon, Michael Thomas said he thinks he knows why Virgin Islands shoppers head to St. Thomas to shop.
Because of space limitations, small stores are forced to choose between selling everyday products cheaply or specialisng in pricier higher-end products for professionals, he said.
“A tradesman doesn’t have an issue coming in and paying $35, $40 for a hammer: That’s his livelihood; that’s what he makes his living from,” Mr. Thomas said. “But as a homeowner you don’t need a $40 hammer: You just want a hammer for 10 or 15 bucks and hammer out what you need.”
Fish Bay
CTL’s new store, a 70,000-square-foot facility in Fish Bay, will feature more than 50,000 square feet of retail space, giving the company a better opportunity to compete on variety and price against foreign retailers, according to the general manager.
“We’re still losing tons of money out of the country into the United States Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, so our whole goal we have in this store is to disrupt that traffic that’s leaving the country,” Mr. Thomas said.
Currently, CTL has three Tortola facilities: the Pasea store, which has 9,000 square feet of retail space; a 10,000-square-foot lumberyard in Purcell; and a warehouse in Fish Bay. The new store, which is scheduled to be open by next June, will be a lot easier to manage than three separate locations, Mr. Thomas said.
The substantial increase in retail space will allow CTL to consolidate its operations; expand its paint centre; increase its electrical and plumbing offerings; and add a lawn and garden section, a chandlery and other features, Mr. Thomas said. The goal is to create a “true total home centre.”
“A lot of people think, Well, Home Depot is the end of it all, and I tell people it’s basically not: You just have to find your niche, know where your strengths are, and start working accordingly,” he said, adding that the company expects to hire about 20 new employees.
Outlet mall
A bigger building will bring other key advantages too: a major increase in parking and dock facilities that can cater to barges coming from the sister islands.
David Thomas, Michael’s brother and CTL’s marketing manager, said that besides CTL’s space on the ground level, the upper part of the building will feature an additional 16,000 square feet of retail space in an “outlet mall” served by its own parking deck.
The mall will feature 13 or 14 specialty retailers and services businesses, he said.
“For me it has always been, Why can’t it happen here?” he said, adding, “We want to show the public that you can get the same shopping experience here that you can get overseas.”
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