est. 2007

Barbados Underground

Bringing News and Opinions to the People

Who Are the Local Partners in Cost-U-Less?

Former Prime Minister David Thompson (l) Former Chairman CLICO Holdings B'dos Ltd rumoured to be local partners in Cost-U-Less
Late Prime Minister David Thompson (l) disgraced former Chairman of CLICO Holdings B’dos Ltd rumoured to be local partners in Cost-U-Less

We do not charge membership fees and believe we can offer low prices to Barbados shoppers, just as we have in our most recent store opening in the Cayman Islands, which was also a partnership with local business people

NorthWest Company trading as Cost-U-Less July 2008

It has been almost five years from the time of the announcement Cost U Less Maybe Coming To Barbados that it launched in Barbados. However, based on consumer feedback the wait has been in vain.  It has been two months since launch and Barbadians continue to wait for the low prices promised. Before the coming of Cost-U-Less the Trinidadians, who now have a vice grip on our food retail and distribution channels, had promised Barbadian consumers the same, that is, we would benefit from economies of scale created by a larger T&T market.

Barbados now finds itself in a situation where we have a new entrant to an already competitive retail food sector.  And it has not demonstrated any appreciable price differentiation in its offering. Sad to say the inevitable must follow.  We created 200 jobs with the coming of Cost-U-Less but SuperCentre and DacostaMannings, owned by the Trinidadians, continue to send home employees.

It is unfortunate that Barbadians have not been made aware of who the local business people are in partnership with North West Company (Cost-U-Less). BU believes that if Barbadians were to be apprised of the names it would only serve as another opportunity to expose the hypocrisy, greed and naked opportunism which exist among people we hold in high regard.

The word making the rounds is that Leroy Parris, The Estate of the late David Thompson, Hartley Henry and Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit represent the local interest. These names will cause many to ask many questions.

For example:

  1. Why didn’t the BLP address this issue on the general election campaign just completed?
  2. Why is the estate of the late David Thompson taking forever to be probated?
  3. What were the considerations which motivated Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler to approve such generous concessions to a forex taker in a depressed consumer market?
  4. If Skerrit is so friendly with decision makers in Barbados why have we not been able to establish a bilateral trade agreement with Dominica which was promised when the 2008 Thompson government was ‘inaugurated’?
  5. What can we say about the Kingmaker?

What low prices what!

367 responses to “Who Are the Local Partners in Cost-U-Less?”

  1. David Avatar
    David

    @Amused

    The need to be aligned to international standards and best practice is understood. The point BU is making is an attempt to expose how a system which prohibits transparency makes the talk about said transparency a joke. And this is in the context of a small country where there is patrimony, incestuous behaviour and the like. What are the intervention strategies we need to implement to shape an effective governance struture.

  2. Carson C. Cadogan Avatar
    Carson C. Cadogan

    I was shopping at COST _U _ LESS up to last weekend and my, my, what a wonderful selection of goods to choose from and the prices “are right darling, the prices are right”.

    Spread the word.

  3. Well Well Avatar
    Well Well

    Telling it like it is…………the cost u less opening is causing hundreds to be sent home from other business houses, how does that make any sense?? maybe you can explain in your infinite wisdom…………and for your ASS U ME, i am not middle class taking from anyone, definitely not from anyone in Bim………not present

  4. islandgal246 Avatar
    islandgal246

    Arson you must have had nuff empty cashiers to choose from at Cost U more. If that lousy place impressed you with their rip off prices you are dumber than I thought. No long lines, empty car park, empty store…….No more Cost U more! I give them 8 months in Bim!

  5. islandgal246 Avatar
    islandgal246

    “what a wonderful selection of goods to choose from and the prices “are right darling, the prices are right”.

    You need some glasses Arson you are such a STOOGE!

  6. Well Well Avatar
    Well Well

    Carson , fair is fair……….if all of the foreign companies leave Bim, then the population will have to buy local like this administration has been pounding into their heads on a daily basis……….my question to you then is, why are the foreign food merchants still in Bim, including cost u less?

  7. Carson C. Cadogan Avatar
    Carson C. Cadogan

    iaslandgal246

    “you are such a STOOGE!”

    It takes one to know one.

  8. Carson C. Cadogan Avatar
    Carson C. Cadogan

    If you don’t pay $50.00 up front, you cant buy a toothpick at PRICESMART.

    What a rip off.

    But I know that the BLP people here are happy with that.

    PAY TO SHOP, never seen in Barbados before the Barbados Labour Party introduced PRICEMART to Barbados.

    PAY TO SHOP , PAY TO SHOP.

    I GUESS YOU SHOP AT pricesmart a lot “islandgal246 & Common sense is not common”. What fools some of us have become.

    PRICESMART ought to be paying me to shop there and not the other way around.

  9. Carson C. Cadogan Avatar
    Carson C. Cadogan

    COST-U-LESS has the better business model, paying shoppers for their patronage.

  10. Well Well Avatar
    Well Well

    Island……….you know Bajans love nine day wonders, when Trimart reopened they went there in droves, after one month, they were crying no customers were coming………………just give cost u less another month………..Carson will be among the few delusional ones still trying, which we know will not be enough to even pay a light bill.

  11. Well Well Avatar
    Well Well

    Maybe they can stop bajans from going to shop at BJs in Miami, that is also club shopping……………you more than food that last months on end….unlike the supermarkets where you have to go in every week to spend 6-700 dollars, club shopping guarantees you only shop every 3-4 months………can’t beat that………….talk about common sense not being common.

  12. Prodigal Son Avatar
    Prodigal Son

    Do you mean to tell me that everything this government undertakes has a stench to it?

    I have heard too that the Stinkliar has an interest too in this place. My spouse said he cant and then said, you know should not really say that, he should not but with these Dems anything goes, they will do anything.

    Join me my friends, dont go to Cost You Less and you will be standing up against the nasty dealings of the dead king, the kingmaker and Leroy Parris.

  13. Well Well Avatar
    Well Well

    Should read………..with club shopping you more than make up for the annual fee by buying bulk food at wholesale prices that last 3-4 months, supermarket is every week at 6-700 dollars, waste of money, enriching supermarkets.

  14. Well Well Avatar
    Well Well

    There must be a stench if they are taking taxpayers dollars and practicing conflict of interest at the same time…………..that is down right evil and i cannot say i am the least bit surprised……………got this from a very reliable source that the ministers had planned for the last 3 years whether they won or not they were going to personally control the food market in Bim, including agriculture, with the help of Parris’ (policyholders) millions that would be a cakewalk………………so no I would not be surprised since this was bouncing through the grapevine for some time.

  15. Carson C. Cadogan Avatar
    Carson C. Cadogan

    PRODIGAL SON

    “I have heard too…..”

    You are always hearing something and 100% of it is always WRONG.

    Do your self a favour and give up now, elections long gone.

  16. Well Well Avatar
    Well Well

    Don’t get me wrong…………..I don’t mind local blacks controlling the food market, but don’t do so while getting your salaries from taxpayers and then to add insult to injury the price of food is still astronomical, so you still did not do any favors to the taxpayers, while collecting their money in regular self-serving, self-interest style, and then you are deceitfully hiding your connection to the company.

  17. David Avatar
    David

    A reminder that if as alleged we have shareholders in a concern who benefited from the opportunity because of their positions in government, or being close to those in government, and then said concern benefited from government concessions-this is the issue.

    A secondary question, has CUL is able to drive down prices so far?

  18. Carson C. Cadogan Avatar
    Carson C. Cadogan

    Then you ought to ask those questions of PRICESMART and their secret local partners.

    Fair is fair.

  19. Well Well Avatar
    Well Well

    David……..I have come to the realization that some people don’t care how much bajans get suckered for the price of food, as long as their party or friends or families are the ones doing the suckering……………..when the **** starts to hit the fan they will just sell their shares to a foreign entity like bizzy did with the trimart shares when he saw things going south……………..just more of the same…………Bajans are the ones who will have to rise up against these unjust and greedy movements for self enrichment………..no one else can do it for them.

  20. Artaxerxes Avatar
    Artaxerxes

    @ Carson

    Why don’t you reveal who the secret partners of PriceMart, and while you are it, tell us if they were granted such generous concession as in the case of Csot-U-Less. This would certainly give creditability to your argument. As it stands now you are only blowing hot air (as usual).

  21. David Avatar
    David

    @Artexeras

    When Pricesmart was launched the person who represented the local partners participated in the launch. If memory serves it was David Staples. There was no similar willingness of local partners in CUL.

    Regarding concessions to PriceSmart there is no recall that concessions were made public. The DLP in government at the MoF should be in possession of the files and in their defense there is absolutely nothing stopping them from making it public.

  22. ac Avatar
    ac

    And to think that DT cannot even respond to the information as to regards to his business affilliation with Cost U Less! if i was his wife i would filed a lawsuit against person or persons for providing such information publicly without my prior knoweldge or verification

  23. Well Well Avatar
    Well Well

    AC girl………………..I don’t think filing a lawsuit would be in her best interest right now……………….that might cause even more dirt to fly……………sometimes it is best to let sleeping giants lie.

  24. Well Well Avatar
    Well Well

    Besides, there are still questions about a “$30.000,000 million dollar bank account associated with his estate.”

  25. Prodigal Son Avatar
    Prodigal Son

    @Carson C. Cadogan | April 25, 2013 at 12:05 PM |

    PRODIGAL SON

    “I have heard too…..”

    You are always hearing something and 100% of it is always WRONG.

    Do your self a favour and give up now, elections long gone.
    “”””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””

    Poor you, you cannot deal with it when DLP corruption is exposed. You are a lousy troll on BU. You are so discredited, no one takes you on.

    Yea, I well know the election is over, boo hoo and the DLP still does not have a clue how to govern. You all know how to cheat to win but have not a clue what to do after.

    It seems all down hill since February 21…………..CBB dismal report………….Minister of Labour pathetic apology to the Duke of York………. the PM got up from sleep this week only to realise that things in Barbados are so dread that even old people are walking with implements to protect themselves from the criminals……..

    No worries, we will endure!

    By the way where is the Minister of the Environment. I hope you Carson C Cadogan is taking note that the House is hardly meeting nowadays! What hypocrites you Dems are!

  26. Alvin Cummins Avatar
    Alvin Cummins

    @David et al.
    When Julie N’s feet were being held to the fire because Neville had the guts to try to stand up to the elements who controlled the retail industry in Bim; when he tried to bring down the price of food by going and buying in bulk overseas and bring direct to his store-bypassing the middle man, the powers that be (remember the years) did as little as possible to help him. When he had to sell out to satisfy the same people who now control the same industry, all the criticism was that he was not a good business man. he brought his business from a little one door store in tudor Sstreet, to wher it is in Haggatt Hall and like all the others in Barbados-R.D. Maxwell (james Street) James A. Tudor (Baxters road) Rick’s (Fairchild Street) and so many other BLACK entrepreneurs, the only thing WE could do was to try to bring them down. We are at it again. Who are the owners and Partners in Price Smart? Compare these with the owners of Shop Smart (BLACK owned. Who owns BS&T, the conglomerate that controls all the food retail business in Barbados. Now because of ENVY,SPITE,VINDICTIVENESS and such things as far as certain people in the country every effort is being made to derail the company before it has even gotten off the ground. Did people really expect that prices would fall within TWO MONTHS after starft up? What benefit is BS&T to Barbados? Competition will force them to lower prices eventually.I read a blog earlier this week showing comparative prices between Price Smart, Shop Smart, and Cost U less, and they were comparable. Each company had differences in areas where each company had some sosrt of advantage. What does it matter who owns it? Are they not Barbadians_except for Skerrit-but remember this venture was planned long before 2008.Are we going to continue to let these sorts of attitudes continue to destroy us? And WellWell, you are talking about “Bajans having to rise up against these unjust and greedy movements for self enrighment”..what the hell are you talking about? Why do you work? not for “self enrighment? Why do you invest? Not for “self enrichment? Why do you put your money in the bank that offers the highest interest rate? Not for “self enrichment? If more Barbadians thought of investing for Self Enrichment, instead of developing a crab in the barrel mentality they would be further ahead.Damn it it is time for US to look in the mirror and see that we are all the same. I keep coming back to the same question I asked before..Who benefited and still benefit from the concessions granted under the Special Development Areas Act? Very few Bajan Blacks. Why the hell shouldn’t Bajan Blacks benefit from concessions granted to Cost U Less, just because WE happen to know the major shareholders.Didn’t they invest their money. As far as I know none of the persons mentioned have been brought before the law courts and found guilty of breaking ANY Law.Everything that has been put forward is rumour and innuendo. Those who have the facts, have the BALLS to bring charges and fight it out in court.
    I mad as shite now. I am tired of the type of attitude that is pervasive in this society and it is time that it stop. Why Can’t Chris Sinckler invest his money where he wants it? Whose business is it if David Thompson’s will takes forever to probate? When was Tom Adams will probated? Did he ever have one? was it publicized? What about Bree St. John? What about Errol Barrow? What foolishness are we getting on with? When Goddard owner of one of the largest conglomerates at the time was also a member of the Senate, and a Minister did anybody question his investments? and when Sir Douglas Lynch at the time chairman of BS&T also a Senator did anybody raise these questions? Who Probates wills? When are WE going to be consistent? It is one thing for whe WHITE people and another thing for the BLACKS because we have political preferences? STOP IT!!!

  27. David Avatar
    David

    @Alvin

    The problem with you is that you always muddy your arguments. You see no issue with a late PM, his political strategist and the Godfather of the late PM’s children and head of CLICO Barbados all investing in a business in the above scenario. You also see no issue with same company attracting heavy concessions from government.

    Further you knock Pricesmart because of its ownership structure yet CUL has the same.

    About the reason Rowe failed you need to wheel and come again.

  28. Prodigal Son Avatar
    Prodigal Son

    ac,

    I dare you and the queen to file a lawsuit to shut people up. Yea, like Well Well said, she might live to rue the day……………….. so much she will have to answer:
    * You really want her to answer how her husband was able to amass 30 million dollars when he was mainly a professional politician who hardly practiced law?
    * Would you ac think that the queen would be able under cross examination to say how the 2008 campaign was financed and why was it run from out of Families First account?
    * Ac, you really think that the queen would like us to know how she and the wife of the disgraced CEO of CLICO were able to buy a beach house for nearly one million dollars cash?

    Ac, do you think really your advice is good now???

  29. Artaxerxes Avatar
    Artaxerxes

    @ Alvin Cummins

    “the powers that be (remember the years) did as little as possible to help him.”

    This is not true! I remember distinctively Owen Arthur writing the bank of Nova Scotia asking them not foreclose on Mr. Rowe, as well bringing Rowe’s creditors together for them to give him debt relief.

  30. Well Well Avatar
    Well Well

    Alvin……………..I am not the one who promised bajans lower food prices as part of any ongoing deception………….and I certainly don’t enrich myself while still taking a monthly salary from taxpayers without conscience, and not having the decency to take a 5 or 10% pay cut while knowingly enriching myself at the expense of the same said taxpayer and while keeping the instrument of enrichment a big deep dirty secret from the taxpayers………………other than that, I read your article thoroughly………but because they are government it does not make it right or ethical and may very well be illegal. Apparently we are at the stage where no one wants to take responsibility when they are wrong………..it’s all about the money and self-dealing.

  31. Well Well Avatar
    Well Well

    At the end of the day Bajans are the ones getting the s******** end of the stick from this self-dealing be it white or black self-dealers………….when the bajan whites did it, no one from the black governments did or said anything in the defense of the taxpayers, they allowed it to fester until when it oozed, the businesses got sold to foreign entities…………..now members of government think they have a god given right to do the same thing to the taxpayers and no one should say anything…………..does that sound fair to you Alvin???

  32. Prodigal Son Avatar
    Prodigal Son

    David,
    Can you please tell Alvin that Neville Rowe was his own worst enemy.

    I was a faithful customer supporting Neville from his days on Baxter’s Road in a little one door place. I thought that yes, he could have gotten a bigger place as business improved but when he went and put himself in so much debt to build the monstrosity at Haggatt Hall, I found going there a chore and so he lost me as a customer.

    What I could not understand about his business strategy is when he started to give away many many big end cars like Hondas, I know a young girl who was only 14 at the time who won one. Even if he had some kind of deal with the dealers, how much impact would those giveaways have on his bottom line? I was not surprised when the sow got under the counter!

  33. Well Well Avatar
    Well Well

    Alvin………..for the nearly five years this present administration spen advertising and promoting cost u less, did they even one time have the decency to tell Bajans who they could expect to hear had shares in the supermarket????? If they had, it would mean they had nothing to hide and we would not now be having this discussion.

  34. Well Well Avatar
    Well Well

    I too think it was the monstrosity did in Neville……….up until then, he had everything more or less under control.

  35. Well Well Avatar
    Well Well

    If according to Alvin, Skerrit (PM of Dominica) is also a shareholder in cost u less, then there is no reason why most of the food and fruits cannot be imported from Dominica, just a hop, skip and jump away from Bim, and absolutely no reason why the prices cannot be lower.

  36. Well Well Avatar
    Well Well

    Furthermore, I am now wondering if Skerrit let the taxpayers in Dominica who pay his monthly salary, know that he is a shareholder of cost u less Barbados……………….if what Alvin just said is accurate…………hmmmmmmmmmmm……..these small island politicians always think they are a law unto themselves.

  37. Prodigal Son Avatar
    Prodigal Son

    Well, Well

    On the day of the grand inauguration of the DLP at the much maligned Kensington Oval, the dead king with the said Skerritt in the front row, said that they would be bringing loads of fruit from Dominica…………………lying through his teeth as the dead king knew full well that fruits and vegetables from Dominica were banned because of the deadly fruit fly. Maybe he did not know, he paid no attention to those details prior to winning!

  38. Alvin Cummins Avatar
    Alvin Cummins

    @ac: I dare any of the accusers and propagandists to file a lawsuit, or bring charges of corruption against any of the people mentioned in all the blogs.Charge them with offences and let it all come out.
    @David: I don’t “muddy” any arguments. First of all I never said anything about Price Smart ownership structire”, I spoke about its “ownership”- who owns the shares,especially the majority of shares. Go to the Intellectual Property Office find out and publish it. It may surprise you. The persons you have objection to as major shareholders are all Bajans, have not been charged with any crime, are lawful citizens and therefore are free to invest their money where they want. Don’t Bizzy, and COW, and OSA, and Mia, and Richie, and Pemberton (remember him?) and anyone else, invest where they want? Why would you or anyone want to put restrictions on these people; just because you don’t like them. Until they are charged and found guilty I will defend their right to function normally. You admit that Cost U Less hired 200 people, but at the same time point out that the other competitors are laying off people. Are you saying then tha if that store did not come into being the people would still have jobs? CUL was mooted as an entity before 2008
    I don’t have to wheel and come again with regard to Neville Rowe. Remember Rollock (you might be too young to remember) who was the first person to establish the 5&10 store in Tudor Street-the man who installed the first escalator in Barbados, right where KFC is? The same fate he suffered, at the hands of certain merchants and machinations, is the same fate (wielded by the same people, and a few black sabatoeurs) who were responsible for the failure of Neville Rowe and Julie’N. With regard to granting concessions to CUL; If a company is a legal entity, registered and recognized as a legal entity; and if that legal entity is entitled to concessions, and if the law does not put restrictions on who the legal shareholders may be, then it has every right to obtain the same concessions as any other equally legal entity, regardless of who the shareholders are. And if there are no restrictions then ANYONE has a legal right to invest in that company. When multimillionaires come here and buy luxury condominimums and get concessions who questions them? Who checks to see the source of their funds? I remember writing a letter to the Newspapers in 2000, when the announcement was made that the Apes Hill Development was to take place. I asked for details of who was going to be underwriting the announced Billion dollars to be invested in it. That question was never answered. Up to now no one knows. Did it all come from COW?
    @Artaxerxes:
    And what happened? What was the agreement reached? What were the terms? The “powers that be” do not necessarily have to be the PM (local)

  39. Well Well Avatar
    Well Well

    Prodigal…………..i too was in Bim and heard thompson prancing around about bringing food from Dominica………..and as a politician he should have known about the food ban…………so we are now left to believe that the deception started right then and there………….I hope he can spend 30 million dollars where he is……these people have no conscience, then they want to rail against the bajan white, yet they sit in a corner and just wait for the right opportunity to do the same thing to their own people…….

  40. Well Well Avatar
    Well Well

    What kind of laws of ethics are in place in Bim for PMs and Ministers to own businesses and conduct businesses with or without taxpayers dollars for personal financial gain??? are there any laws?? If they are none then politicians should be happy for the taxpayers to know of their successes and not keep anything secret from the taxpayers.

  41. Well Well Avatar
    Well Well

    Alvin…………from what i know personally, the same politicians help fight down black people who try to rise financially doing business on the island…..i can tell you that from experience.

  42. Alvin Cummins Avatar
    Alvin Cummins

    @Well Well:
    I gather from your blogs that you are in Canada, therefore you should remember a former Prime Minister by the name of Paul Martin. would you enlighten the readers of BU what businessesw had? What was the source of his income (outside of his salary as Prime MInister? How many salary cuts die he take? How many of his businesses did he relinquish? Did he put them in a “blind trust” while he was PM? what happened after he left office?What about George Bush? what happened to his oil empire while he was President? Didn’t he still get paid as President? Come on!!

  43. Well Well Avatar
    Well Well

    And besides, the ministers never do due diligence to find out where the millionaires and billionaires who go to Barbados get their money, they never question them, and the same ministers of government are responsible for giving the great concessions to the foreign businesses without questions, it is their job to question them and they do not do it, but join them in scamming the taxpayers, who would you blame for that?………the taxpayers never know of these things, are not responsible and only hear who got what when something goes really wrong……….your arguments are starting to leak.

  44. Well Well Avatar
    Well Well

    Alvin………..because the big city thieves and scam artists have not gone to jail yet…………that does not mean that the small island thieves and con artist are justified to victimize poor people………….i believe there was an investigation for Paul Martin…………..the Bush demons are another story………..but why should taxpayers tolerate small island politicians scamming them or hiding deals from them, it is not right.

  45. ac Avatar
    ac

    Prodgal one thing at atime sir. as of now we are dealing with an article which has presented informationand legally protected by a “privacy ACT” and should not be privy to anyone but the parties to whom such information belongs. Now you could stamped your feet and shout as hard as you can but that does not change the fact that DT wife could and should take legal action against those who willfuly use such information and present it to the public wether it be true or false.

  46. Well Well Avatar
    Well Well

    The beauty about the big cities, there are laws in place to deal with such dishonesty, everyday another politician is charged, jailed or shamed……….we cannot even find out if there are any laws in Bim to deal with deception of the level we are witnessing in Bim.

  47. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    Alvin you don’t get tired talking foolishness? How could it be okay for a Prime Minister, his advisor and Minister of Finance to OWN an entity granted concessions by the same Minister?

  48. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    Why not buy shares in the name of the Government of Barbados? If true, the other supermarket owners should file a case for judicial review.

  49. Well Well Avatar
    Well Well

    That privacy act seems to be covering and condoning all types of thievery eg. CLICO policyholders, taxpayers……………all that dishonesty will definitely shut down the island, it is a small island and will find it hard to bounce back. Big cities lock up their dishonest political players, they are building jails to accommodate them cause it is like an epidemic now, why should bajan taxpayers sit back and allow their own people to leech of them after having been leeched by bajan whites for so many decades……….they are not even trying to make it a level playing field but sneaking around hiding the details.

  50. ac Avatar
    ac

    Bajans have a choice .no one is putting a gun or forcing anyone to buy from CUL. I see this article as just another bajan past time of “kicking the political can up and down the street”

Older Comments
1 2 3 4 … 8
Newer Comments

The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.

Trending

Discover more from Barbados Underground

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading