At the parking lot entrance in Cable Beach of one of the two stores owned by the leading supermarket chain in the country, sat a crater pothole that had not been paved for many months. It was finally paved just yesterday.
It was poorly and unevenly filled in some weeks ago. The filling quickly eroded after a few rains. Imagine a similar experience with a dentist putting in a filling that rapidly loosened after drinking a few glasses of water.
Despite numerous complaints by customers to store managers, who have diligently and repeatedly notified the chain’s headquarters, drivers constantly navigated the hazard when exiting the parking lot, which had more potholes that kept getting wider and deeper.
Shoppers drove their cars through these pits that could cause flat tires and other damage, especially when the holes were flooded with water and drivers could not “fathom” the depths.
One reason that many of the trolleys or carts in the stores easily get twisted wheels and become rickety, making them difficult to steer, is because of the bumpy, gravelly, poorly maintained parking lots they are ridden over.
How difficult is it to properly fill in these cavities, symptoms of a sort of disease of disrepair and neglect? The potholes are a stark, glaring example, a metaphor for how poorly kept and maintained are the stores in the chain.
In eastern, western, southern, and central New Providence, the stores exhibit décor, tiling, and entrances that make them appear stuck in a time warp of the 1950s and 60s.
While there have been cosmetic and other upgrades over the decades, like removing freezers that should have be removed and replaced years earlier, other features have not been more significantly renovated and renewed to provide a contemporary aesthetic and better amenities.
It is unbecoming of an institution of the size and wealth of the chain, with a near monopoly on a part of the market, to treat its customers with this level of disdain and disrespect, whether wittingly or unwhittingly.
Bahamians travel. They know what a modern, well-kept food store looks and feels like. Customers in upscale and middle-income areas are treated to “ghetto-like” stores and those in poorer neighborhoods endure even worse and grimy facilities.
While much of the managerial and other staff are cordial, the shopping experience is typically poor, or as a friend noted, “awful”.
There is an outdated mindset, a corporate culture, stuck in a bygone era, that has failed to significantly enhance the customer experience.
The owners of the chain have the resources to modernise but have kept doing emergency or patchwork just as they have done with potholes over the years.
Because most Bahamians cannot afford to shop at the more expensive grocery chain in New Providence, they have to purchase groceries, cleaning supplies, and other items from the leading chain.
We have helped to make the owners superrich. Might they at long last return this customer loyalty by cleaning the gunk off the pavement at the entrances and putting in new flooring that does not look dirty.
The produce areas can be modernized and made more attractive, cleaner, fresher looking, and perhaps, even pleasurable. Many Bahamians and tourists complain of the smell of meat and other foul odors as one enters certain stores. Why is this the case in 2026?
Most blood from animals is removed after slaughter. “The red liquid in store-bought meat packages is not blood, but a mixture of water and a protein called myoglobin, known as ‘purge’”
Many grocery stores in other countries place absorbent pads in the bottom of meat trays to soak up this extra purge. Does the leading chain use such pads? Why do customers so often have to put meat in plastic bags to catch the purge?
Why do the office areas where mangers work look like a clapboard house in a shantytown? Why do the pharmacies look junky? Why do so many checkout belts break down?
Why do deli sections still look so rundown, poorly appointed, and again, in desperate need of refurbishment? The cooked food area should be attractive and appealing, and not look like a food mess, pun intended.
Security guards should not be sitting on milk crates outside of stores, which are professional enterprises. It is tacky. Can one imagine a security guard sitting on a milk crate outside of an insurance company or other establishment?
The back areas of various stores where employees work, unload goods, and prepare meats and produce for presentation are also in urgent need of refurbishment.
There are often scuffed floors and walls, peeling paint, and other signs of disrepair in the back areas that may shock shoppers.
The physical state of the stores is a poor message to both customers and employees. This parlous state suggest that the owners put little stock into making the customer and employee experience more inviting and pleasurable.
Again, the chain employs a number of friendly managers and well-mannered and generally well-trained packers. They deserve better facilities in the back and front area in which to work.
A part of the shopping experience for retail stores selling goods ranging from groceries to clothes to electronics, is to make the customer feel good. It is similar to promoting a good and enjoyable visitor experience for tourists.
But at the leading grocery chain, the shopping experience is something to be endured. One typically wants to get in and out of the store as quickly as possible. It should be a joy and a pleasure for the owners to offer customers a beautiful and attractive experience.
The chain boasts of its commitment to “customer service excellence”. Sadly, this excellence is woefully missing in the facilities of its 13 supermarkets across New Providence.
A college student after returning home from her first year in college overseas marvelled at how clean and contemporary were the grocery stores in which she shopped in the Midwest in the United States.
She puzzled: “Why do Bahamians put up with such rundown facilities that desperately need to be renovated and repaired?
It often requires successive generations to press for and realize change. Near monopolies or duopolies, with limited competition, are often anesthetized into complacency. They are resistant to change.
A new generation or the next generation of owners and managers, including grandchildren, should be encouraged and supported in transitioning the enterprise from a utilitarian mindset to one with a greater appreciation for aesthetics and better customer experiences.
With the extraordinary amount of money Bahamians spend in this grocery chain, we need and should demand more “quality markets” that will afford us enhanced “super values”. These stores can be fresh markets where shopping is a pleasure, a slogan a major food chain once marketed but of which it can no longer boast.