THE recently opened United Centre (Footsteps Mega Store) on Camp and Regents Streets, Georgetown has netted tremendous positive response from the general public since opening for business on October 10 last. Marketing Manager Michael Alleyne has, however, said that the entity has been victim of several instances of shoplifting, occasioned by large crowds engulfing the location on its first few days of business.

In an interview with this newspaper yesterday, Alleyne acknowledged the tremendous and enthusiastic public response, saying that the large crowds flocking the location are mostly amazed with the “structured layout”, prices and quality of furniture and other items on sale. But the mostly female customers patronising the business seem more enthralled by items on the ground floor, where clothing, footwear, perfumes, cellular phones and a host of other items usually sought after by females are sold.
Nevertheless, the ground floor markets accessories and clothing for men folk as well, and volume and variety have accordingly been increased.

He also said that persons seem very impressed with items displayed in the store’s Furniture and Household Appliances departments.

Commenting on strategies employed to capture customer interest and maximise sales, Alleyne explained that management is very focused on the quality of service given to customers; and maintaining that level of customer service at top notch will not only ensure customer loyalty, but also boot their desire to make purchases.

Alleyne feels that striving to surpass the expectations of its customers whilst pricing items to make them most affordable will cause the United Centre to always be providing excellent service.

Security
On the first two days of opening for business, the United Centre was targeted by several shoplifters, who apparently were unaware of the high level of security at the shopping centre, and of the presence of high-level surveillance cameras monitoring their movements. Shoplifters were promptly apprehended and handed over to the police; but to avoid a recurrence of shoplifting, folks at the United Centre have beefed up their manual security, and no cases of shoplifting have since been recorded.

There is also adequate security to protect the items of both shoppers and employees.

Competition
Alleyne confidently declared that management of the United Centre is not at all worried about competition, since the store’s brands and products are not really found in any other store in the city. He emphasized that even if there are indeed a few entities marketing the same items, the competition is welcome, since “their prices are good, and their items are of original quality.”

He noted that the entity has every intention of sticking with its models, since they are cheaper than “those advertised elsewhere”.

The United Centre is Guyana’s first contemporary shopping centre, and now sees the amalgamation of the Essential Shopping Centre at Camp and Regent Streets, and Footsteps and Home and Beyond stores located at Camp and Charlotte Streets. This facility, which took about four years to be completed, is a steel structure clad with concrete board that sports a total area space of 58,300 square ft.

The external of the building is made of glass and aluminum board — which reduces the overall weight of the building.
The six storeys of the building have four shopping floors; an office floor; and the roof, on which work is in progress. When completed in about two months’ time, the roof will feature a five-star restaurant, two open dining decks, three bars, and a VIP arena.