– but hot competition forces smaller businesses out

“I AM proud to be a resident of Golden Grove/Diamond. Almost daily I can see positive changes taking place, and that’s something to be proud of,” says Wazim Khan, Managing-Director of Lisa’s Supermarket on the Golden Grove/Diamond main Highway.
Ecstatic and pointing to visible signs of development, Khan who has been in the commercial sector for a number of years, could not help acknowledging the presence of three of the main commercial banks in close proximity to each other in the heart of the community, and along the Golden Grove/Diamond main highway.

“We have three banks, a fire station, Insurance companies; a GPL Consumer Assistance Bureau; GRA has a branch here – so that it is not necessary for persons from the far ends in the community to travel all the way to central Georgetown to access the services of a bank or other essential services. Likewise, it is not necessary for persons to travel all the way to the city to go in search of most of the things they want when shopping. There are Auto Sales, hotels, restaurants. We’ve got practically everything we want right here and there’s a lot of development still ongoing for the area, with another housing scheme soon to be developed at Providence,” Wazim reasoned.

But whilst there is much to shout about in terms of development, there are still some irritants, residents contend. High on the list, they say, is ‘unfair competition’ from the Chinese in the area of commerce.

“Whereas in the past there were just about five supermarkets in the area, today there are about 20 and the spending population remains about the same as it was 10 years ago. Local businesses have always had a fair edge…But today, we are being virtually forced out of the competition,” he said. Another practice the businesses are bemoaning is the uneven playing field when it comes to opening hours for business.

“We respectfully ask, ‘Why is it that local businesses have to close at specified times, and not so with the Chinese?’ They are open for business as late as 22:00hrs and open their businesses on every one of our national holidays and all day Sunday. We’re also still to determine what is the situation as regards attaching revenue stamps to bills for purchases or other financial transactions undertaken,” residents say.

Meanwhile, what was at one time referred to as ‘bottom-house shops’ have, over time, become a thing of the past. It was observed that the elder folk who would have served the country nobly but are now retired, can no longer depend on eking out a living through their ‘bottom house shops’ as these are no longer relevant. Hence, they are forced to shut them up. And of concern, many local shop and store owners are said to be selling out their businesses to the Chinese, compounding the problem. “It’s happening here at Diamond; in the capital city of Georgetown; on the West Demerara and the list goes on,” residents complained.