Owners of the Sovereign Manor Park supermarket are negotiating the sale of the business as a going concern, freeing the Loshusan brothers who own it to pursue separate ventures, one of which is the transformation of a massive property on Washington Boulevard in Kingston to accommodate a new grocery business.

"We are currently in discussion to sell the business which should be completed by the end of January," said Evadne Loshusan, who runs Sovereign Manor Park, in which husband Glady Loshusan is one of a quartet with equity in the supermarket, alongside brothers Ken, Roy and Earl.

The potential buyer, Evadne said, is Phil Reynolds of Caribbean Home Entertainment Limited, or CariHome, a distri-butor of DVDs, games and music, but would not disclose the asking price.

Reynolds has been off the island for the past few weeks, his office said, and unavailable to comment.

The pending sale of the Manor Park business is happening at the same time that Progressive Grocers of Jamaica Limited, a consortium of supermarket owners that includes the Loshusans, has also ramped up on investment in the group.

The partners in Progressive have all declined comment, but at least two sources tell the Financial Gleaner that the group is responsible for the development of a commercial complex underway on Constant Spring Road, opposite the tax collection centre.

People with knowledge of the project say the complex will include a Shopper's Fair supermarket, which is owned by Progressive, a SuperValu hardware store, which is owned by consortium member Sing Sung Chin, and possibly other stores.

Super Valu has two outlets.

Chin would not say whether he was relocating his smaller hardware store from its Mannings Hill Road location or expanding the business, telling the Financial Gleaner that it would be at least another year before any information is disclosed on the plans for the Constant Spring site, even though the building identified as the supermarket is substantially advanced.

But a Super Valu outlet is already registered at 144 Constant Spring Road where the development is in progress, but the number listed in the telephone directory goes to a fax line.

Supermarket confirmation

Late Thursday, the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation confirmed that a supermarket was being developed at the site, but said it could not disclose any details, including who were the investors.

Earl Loshusan and wife Sharon, meantime, appear close to finalising the redevelopment project underway on the property at Washington Boulevard which once housed a Shopper's Fair supermarket that closed down in the early 1980s.

Cable & Wireless Jamaica, now LIME, bought the property from the Matalon family back in the mid-1990s. The Loshusans acquired it four years ago, Evadne told the Financial Gleaner.

She declined to name the seller.

The Progressive group was formed back in 2000 chiefly as bulk buyer of stock for the individually owned grocery businesses owned by Docky Lym, Sing Sung Chin, Arnold Chin of Montego Bay and at least three of the Loshusan brothers, but over time has also been used as the vehicle for the acquisition of other assets and businesses.

The consortium owns the Duhaney Park Shopping Centre acquired in 2007, the 12-store Shopper's Fair chain of supermarkets acquired from Facey Commodity, and JR's Bargain World.

Sovereign represents two of the 25 or so supermarkets under the consortium, with outlets in Manor Park and Liguanea.

The deal being finalised with Reynolds does not include use of the Sovereign name, said Evadne, essentially contracting that business to one outlet.

Nor does it include the staff, who will be transferred to Sovereign Liguanea, the largest of the two outlets under that brand, while Liguanea staff will be redeployed to the new grocery business that Earl and Sharon plan to launch from Washington Boulevard under the brand name 'Michi', Evadne said.

The buyer will be required to negotiate a new leasing arrangement with Jamaica Property Company Limited, a subsidiary of the Facey family-controlled Pan Jamaican group, which owns the Manor Park shopping complex.

The location was being rented for approximately $2.4 million per month, Evadne disclosed.

Initially, sources said the Loshusans had opted to quit the location because of the rental charges that were eating away their margins, but Evadne dismissed the suggestion.

In fact, she said the supermarket which is ringed by upscale residential neighbourhoods was doing good business and churning over high volumes, but that the move was prompted by the changing priorities of the Loshusan brothers who had individual interests to pursue.

The supermarket has operated in Manor Park for 15 years.

sabrina.gordon@gleanerjm.com

The commercial complex being developed by Progressive Grocers on Constant Spring Road, Kingston. The complex will house a Shopper's Fair supermarket. - photo by Kelsie Clarke