By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

INDEPENDENT liquor retailers yesterday said a competition watchdog and antitrust regulations were “needed urgently”, as they again hit out at Commonwealth Brewery. 

George Robinson, the Retailers Liquor Association’s president, told Tribune Business he and his members continue to fear that the vertically-integrated, BISX-listed brewer is attempting to establish a retail monopoly that will drive them out of business.

Besides concerns over the expansion of 700 Wines and Spirits, Mr Robinson said independent stores were also worried they will be unable to match the favourable price discounts and promotions that Commonwealth Brewery can offer to its retail arm.

Mr Robinson said the Association, which launched in October last year, was now seeking a meeting with K P Turnquest, minister of finance, to push for competition laws and regulations that would protect small, independent Bahamian businesses - not just liquor retailers.

“We really need that,” he told Tribune Business. “We’re planning a meeting with the Minister of Finance now to see if they can legislate that. That is needed urgently it’s not only the liquor business that’s affected; it’s just about all the retail businesses that are affected by this thing.”

The Bahamas is obligated, by the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU), to establish a competition ‘watchdog’ body and antitrust regulations that would deal with issues such as monopolistic behaviour, but has yet to do so.

The Retailers Liquor Association and its members first expressed concerns about Commonwealth Brewery’s intentions when it formed last year, and a newspaper advertisement yesterday indicated these had resurfaced - and may even have intensified.

“All retail liquor merchants who are interested in stopping the unfair competition and monopoly of a leading liquor manufacturer and distributor, please contact George Robinson of the Retailers Liquor Association,” read the advertisement.

Tribune Business attempted to reach Hans Neven, Commonwealth Brewery’s managing director for comment, but he was said to be out of office yesterday.

This newspaper’s detailed message for him was returned, and Tribune Business was told that a response would be forthcoming from the company’s ‘head of corporate relations’. However, none was forthcoming before press time despite this newspaper relaying the urgency for one.

However, in an October 2016 response to the Association, Wendell Seymour, Commonwealth Brewery’s sales director, pledged that the company wanted to work with independent retailers rather than squeeze them out, and had no intention of creating a retail monopoly.

An unconvinced Mr Robinson, though, said he and other independents “have a problem with this unfair competition” caused by the fact that Commonwealth Brewery, their major supplier, is also a competitor.

“They’re creating this monopoly where they’re opening up all these retail stores, and opening up these stores right next to their customers; us,” he told Tribune Business. “They have 25 in Nassau, and are trying to open another six.”

Mr Robinson, who owns Base Road Wholesale Bar on Nassau Street, expressed particular concern that his sole store will be “sandwiched” between a Sands outlet and any retail location that 700 Wines and Spirits may open itself nearby.

“I had a little setback when Sands opened on Nassau Street over the hill from me,” he revealed. “They took all my business from the beach. I can’t allow them to corner me from the north and south. I’d be sandwiched. We’re going to try and fight it.”

The Association’s concerns centre on the possibility of 700 Wines and Spirits stores opening in close proximity to its members, sucking away their customer base. However, Mr Robinson conceded that Commonwealth Brewery had “put on hold” a store at the Oakes Field Shopping Centre, near the university, which would have ‘sandwiched’ him.

He added that a Blue Hill Road location had also been “put on hold”, but said a 700 Wines and Spirits store had opened in Fox Hill, while sites on Robinson Road and Charles Saunders Highway were also being eyed.

Mr Robinson said the latter site was “right next to one of members. They’ve rented a space in the Island Luck building right across the road. If they open there, they’re going to wipe this fella right out. He can’t compete with them.

“They [Commonwealth Brewery] have the wholesale market cornered, and are trying to create a retail monopoly.”

The Association president added also expressed concerns over 700 Wines and Spirits’ ‘rewards’ programme, which gives customers 15 per cent ‘cash back’ on card purchases. “But offering rewards to locals at a cheaper price, it will take away a lot of our consumers,” he said. “The same thing is happening in Grand Bahama and Abaco. We’ve got a lot of calls from there.”

Mr Robinson also argued that Commonwealth Brewery’s downtown Nassau stores, engaged in duty-free retailing to tourists, were offering prices that were equivalent to the wholesale prices independent retailers have to pay the BISX-listed company for their supplies.

“When they come into the inner-city right next to you, you can’t compete with that,” he told Tribune Business. “Sometimes we as retailers are able to go into their stores and purchase liquor at prices cheaper than we pay to them at wholesale.”

International brewing giant, Heineken, owns a majority 75 per cent equity stake in Commonwealth Brewery as a result of the 2010-2011 buy-out of the Finlayson family. The remaining 25 per cent is owned by Bahamian investors.

However, not all independent liquor retailers appear to be completely on-board with the Association’s position, and the fear of speaking out and offending Commonwealth Brewery was evident from Tribune Business’s inquiries.

One retailer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they were unaware the advertisement was going out, and felt the main issue - 700 Wines and Spirits opening more stores close to independents and over-saturating the market - had been resolved.

“I’ve got no issues with them right now,” the retailer said of Commonwealth Brewery. “I’m working with them, and they’re working with me. I can’t stick my head in no fire.

“I’m trying to stay out of all that. They’re one of my biggest suppliers. I don’t want to get in any situation with them. It’s not up to me to tell them not to open stores. They’ve got the licenses.”