By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Super Value’s president said company-wide Emancipation Day sales increased by 12 percent despite the closure of four stores, adding: “We cannot say we have any regrets.”

Debra Symonette told Tribune Business that the decision to close the 13-store supermarket chain’s East Street, Wulff Road, Seagrapes Shopping Centre and Robinson Road outlets “didn’t hurt us” from a top-line perspective as it moves to now analyse the savings on labour costs and other expenses.

But she added that, based on the results to-date, it is “highly likely” that Super Value will resort to further store closures on holidays in a bid to reduce the ‘double time’ overtime that must be paid to staff along with electricity and other costs.

“We actually looked at it today,” Ms Symonette told this newspaper of the four-store Emancipation Day closure outcome. “The sales were up in the stores that were in proximity to the ones that closes so it appears customers went to the nearest locations that were open. Overall, we had a good number for sales. The sales increased overall; it was something like 12 percent for the whole company.”

That compared to Emancipation Day 2024, and Super Value’s president asserted: “The closure didn’t hurt us. We will definitely have saved on cost with the salaries and electricity as we have to pay double time for holidays.

“The managers did go in for a while [at the closed locations] just to check on the stores and anybody who came by they were able to advise them to go to the nearest ones that were open. I would say we were satisfied. We cannot say we have any regrets over closing those stores because we didn’t seem to lose anything. We’re up.

“It was definitely a savings to us. We didn’t have all those employees working throughout the day on a holiday at double time and we saved on other areas as well like the electricity. The only thing we were a little concerned about were those customers who said they couldn’t go to another store because they didn’t have transportation. That’s the only thing we regret.”

Ms Symonette said these customers did not represent a “significant” number, and said Super Value’s analysis of the cost savings from the four-store closure will determine whether it repeats the move on future holidays.

“After we finish analysis of the expenses we saved on, we can definitely make a decision on that, but looking at it so far it seems highly likely we will do the same thing again,” she told Tribune Business. “We’ve got some time to look at it and decide. So far so good. We’re just looking at expenses now and seeing how much we saved. If we got both the increase in sales and the savings, that’s a good thing.”

The four stores selected for closure were considered to be in relative close proximity to other Super Value locations so as to minimise inconvenience to Bahamian shoppers. Ms Symonette previously said rising Bahamas Power & Light (BPL) bills and costs “played a significant role” in the closure decision involving the four stores.

“Any time we see those costs go up that’s a hit for for us,” she added. “We cannot help but use electricity because it’s not like we can turn off the lights when there are customers in the store or turn-off the refrigeration.

“The air conditioning, the lights, the refrigeration, they all play a great role in running up the bill. Even when the customers are gone that refrigeration has to keep running to keep the food fresh. The air conditioning you can turn off at times but then you have to run them for a while to get it to where you need it to be at a certain point.”

Super Value recently told Tribune Business that energy costs “seem out of hand” after its electricity bill increased by almost $200,000 in just two months. Ms Symonette had told Tribune Business that, following a 29.3 percent month-over-month jump in its electricity costs from April to May 2025, the company sustained a further 24 percent month-over-month rise in energy costs via its bill for June.

This had resulted in a near-40 percent increase in power bills expenses for the 2025 half-year, with a $194,184 rise in electricity costs in just two months. While the Nassau Street location had enjoyed a 2 percent decrease in electricity costs, Super Value’s stores at Golden Gates, Robinson Road, Prince Charles Drive and East Street had seen their bills surge by between 64 percent and 75 percent.

The Government recently tabled in the House of Assembly an Order that appears to both give legal effect to BPL’s new base tariff rates that were unveiled in summer 2024 and pave the way to reinstate the fuel hedging that was previously abandoned.

The Electricity (Tariff Rate for Electricity Services) Order 2025 implements the base tariffs set out in BPL’s Equity Rate Adjustment, including the 14.9 percent increase for the first 900,000 KWh consumed by the utility’s largest customers - the likes of hotels and food stores.

This tariff is being increased from 8.7 cents per KWh to 10 cents, while the rate for “all remaining units” is to jump by 45.2 percent - from 6.2 cents per KWh to 9 cents. All other BPL customer classes, including households and commercial, as well as temporary supply, will see their base rates either decrease or remain constant.