Scores of Bahamians have shopped over the decades at the Publix Food and Pharmacy grocery stores. The chain began in 1930. It has grown since then with stores throughout Florida, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.

Their well-advertised slogan, “Where shopping is a pleasure”, is known by millions. Whatever the location, the stores are generally modernised and well-kept. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the largest major grocery chain here at home, whose facilities are in desperate need of refurbishment and modernisation.

The parking lot at the Cable Beach shopping plaza, which houses the largest grocery store in that area, is finally being repaved after years of temporary patching of potholes which were constantly being refilled and repatched instead of paved.

Given the number of business establishment it was disgraceful that such a highly trafficked parking lot was so rundown and in a state of constant disrepair. The potholes were often deep and wide.

Quite a number of people dropped into the holes, especially after a heavy rain. Some had to change tires after falling into them.

The supermarket chain, which has a large store in the shopping plaza, in various ways resembles the historic poor state of the parking lot in terms of its facilities. However, it is not only store in the chain that is dilapidated.

Despite the considerable millions made by the shopping chain over the decades, and the super wealth of the owners, customer have had to endure for many years, facilities desperately in need of modernisation. The décor, tiling, and entrances to the stores make the store appear feel like they are stuck in the 1950s or 60s.

While there have been some cosmetic and other upgrades, like removing freezers that should have be removed and replaced years earlier, the décor has not been more significantly renovated and renewed to provide a contemporary aesthetic.

Take for example, the tiling on the floor. Certain commercial tiling and/or flooring tends to be less expensive. Look at the tiling on the floors of the various shops in the chain. There are often many cracks, considerable mold, and encrusted dirt, making the flooring dinghy and unappealing.

Why we are we paying such huge prices and receiving this third world service? Why are the owners treating us with a certain contempt in terms of the quality of their facilities throughout New Providence?

The entrances are often dirty, unappealing, and ramshackle. There is removable gunk near the doorways. An American tourist entering one of the chain’s stores in Cable Beach remarked that the entrance reminded him of a “ghetto” store in a rundown urban area in Philadelphia.

The area where shopping carts are stored are sometimes grimy and in need of better maintenance and cleaning.

Security guards should not be sitting on milk crates outside of stores, which are professional enterprises. It looks tacky. Can one imagine a security guard sitting on a milk crate outside of an insurance company or other establishment?

The back areas of various stores where employees work, unload goods, and prepare various foods for presentation are also in urgent need of remodeling and modernization. There are often scuffed floors and walls, peeling paint, and other signs of disrepair in the back areas that may surprise those shopping out front.

The physical state of the stores is a message to both customers and employees. This parlous state suggest that the owners put little stock into making the customer and employee experience more inviting and pleasurable.

The grocery chain possesses a number of friendly managers and well-mannered and generally well-trained packers. They deserve better facilities in the back and front area in which to work.

To their credit, the owners of Cost Right and Solomon’s have refurbished their previously run down stores. The two adjacent stores off East West Highway have been modernized and refurbished, making the shopping experience more pleasurable.

Maxwell’s Supermarket in Marsh Harbour, Abaco, offers a considerably more appealing facility in which to shop than the stores of the largest grocery chain in New Providence.

Why is it that the owners of various businesses of all sorts are happy to live in beautiful homes, while being comfortable with their employees and clientele having to endure poor facilities in which to work and do business?

A friend notes that though she is unable to afford many of the prices at Solomon’s Fresh Market, she does shop there for some items, in great part because she appreciates how modern and well-kept are the stores.

After three and a half decades, the chain in question finally decided to move from stamps to a smart card, which has been delayed. This sluggish approach to embracing a smart card suggests a mindset stuck in the past, finding it difficult to modernise, reform, and adjust.

Smart cards have been utilised in other jurisdictions for decades in everything from grocery stores to retail clothing stores. Why is the main grocery chain just now catching up? Other stores in The Bahamas have also been using smart cards for some time.

Just as we need smart cards, we need smart grocery stores, with things like more scanners to check prices. In many other jurisdictions fruit, vegetables and meat are better packaged and presented for purchase in a more appetising manner.

Why do we still so often see blood running in some meat products, something one rarely finds at various grocery stores at home and abroad?

Why do deli sections still look so rundown, poorly appointed, and again, in desperate need of refurbishment?

A college student after returning home from her first year in college overseas marveled at how clean and contemporary were the grocery stores in which she shopped in the Midwest in the United States.

She asked: “Why do we put up with such rundown facilities in need for remodeling?” The reality is that owners of a certain age are often comfortable with the look and appearances of their businesses. They fail to see the need for change.

It often requires successive generations to press for and realise such change. Near monopolies or duopolies, with limited competition, are often anesthetised into complacency and are resistant to change.

With the extraordinary amount of money Bahamians spend in various grocery stores, we need and should demand more quality markets that will afford us enhanced super values.

These values including reasonable prices, a greater valuing of customers and employees, and ethical values which translate into more decent, attractive and modernised facilities.

The physical quality and aesthetics of a business sends a message about the owners of an establishment. While some owners may have fewer resources in various establishments, the owners of this chain have the funds necessary to make their stores more appealing and inviting.

The current state of the stores is not about a lack of money. It is more decidedly about the mindset of the owners and whether they can summon the wherewithal to treat their customers and employees with greater respect.

From commercial banks to insurance companies to various medical enterprises, Bahamian consumers are constantly taken advantage of by those who enjoy huge profits, while often indifferent to those who finance their lifestyles and well-being.