Lloyd Kerr, owner of Empire Supermarket, has opened a grocery store in Liguanea, having bought out the equipment and other assets from SuperPlus.

"When things are down, that is when I take on the challenge. I love challenges," said Kerr who had established his first store in Cross Roads in 1982.

"In times of adversity, you don't make them pass you."

Kerr did not disclose the value of the deal struck with Super Plus - Jamaica's largest grocery chain owned by the Chen family - but he said the acquisitions plus the cost of refurbishing the business and stock amounted to $80 million, with plans to spend another $30 million on the store.

Creating jobs

"To get the store, you had to pay a tidy sum for it and go in now and tear it down from roof to floor, refurbish the whole thing although the business is not yours," he said.

Kerr said he has created 80 jobs with the opening of that branch in Liguanea, which has been operational now for three weeks. Some of the members of staff are those who were made redundant when Super Plus closed. Kerr plans to open a third store on prime land, which he owns in Portmore, St Catherine.

The elusive Kerr told the Financial Gleaner that he first got into the grocery business back in 1982 when he was unable get a pack of salt to buy at an established supermarket in Cross Roads when he operated a restaurant back then.

Starting his dream

He said he went to seek financial backing to open a supermarket in Cross Roads and got assistance from late business icon, Carlton Alexander, who helped him get his dream started.

"I got everything that you were not able to get in a store delivered to my store with $40,000 deposit to him at that time in 1982, and the rest is history. I have not turned back since and I have grown," said Kerr.

He was able to expand the complex in the Empire Centre Plaza on both sides of the road. Kerr has also diversified into the phone card business as distributor for LIME Jamaica and Digicel, and into quick concrete mix under a company called Chrisroyl Limited, which he runs with his wife.

Kerr, however, noted that it was his plan to expand the supermarket business. "We have always had a dream of finding a store uptown in Kingston, but we have had several chances, but because we were so small and unknown the big guys they outbid us," he said.

"We really never got a chance to find a store at the good locations that we were looking for until this one (the Liguanea) came up. We heard about it and went in to meet with Wayne Chen," he said.

Kerr said the feedback since the store opened last month has been good. "Everyone seems to like what they are seeing, the whole atmosphere of the store, the whole layout, prices, services and quality goods," he said.

His various businesses employ 265 staff, he said.

dionne.rose@gleanerjm.com