After four years under construction, the doors of the United Centre, at the corner of Regent and Camp streets, will finally open today, promising shoppers a whole new experience.
“We think that the United Centre is the first contemporary shopping centre in Guyana. We have amalgamated our stores, our Essential Shopping Centre stores, Footsteps and our Home and Beyond stores and we have brought them together into one single environment, which we call Footsteps Mega Store,” Marketing Manager Michael Alleyne said yesterday during a media tour of the enterprise.
Already being housed at the centre are Home and Beyond Furnishing, Chester’s Fried Fast Food, the Upper Crust Café, a Western Union branch, a pharmacy and several departments offering gents, ladies and children clothing.
According to Alleyne, only a very small amount of items offered at the complex are produced locally. “We import almost all of our merchandise directly from overseas market. We source the Latin America market because that is an emerging market and we like the products. The look and the design and quality that we have is something that we can’t find locally. But if the guys do it locally we would like to have that,” he explained.
The 38,300 sq ft structure is still not yet completed as proprietor Sabita Narine intends to transform the roof into a five star restaurant that will also boast three bars, two dining decks and a viewing area.
Alleyne noted that while he could not say exactly the cost of constructing the building, it is definitely a multimillion dollar investment. “Let’s say I know for sure that it’s over $100 million,” he pointed out.
Asked about the difficulties in constructing the mega complex, the Marketing Manager said that they had chosen to use wonder board and local builders took some time to become familiar with the material. He emphasised that they had preferred to use local contractors rather than have overseas experts complete the job. When asked why local materials were not used, Alleyne said simply because this would not have provided the finish they had wished for.
“What we would like to achieve, it wasn’t possible with the local materials. For example, the aluminum board we have on the exterior of the building makes it a whole lot lighter as well as the glass so it is less stress on our foundation,” he explained.
He was unable to say how much assistance the privately-owned enterprise has had from the government, but he noted that the project would not have been possible without financial partner Citizens Bank. “They were very helpful. They stuck with us throughout our ups and downs and we are very grateful for the guys at Citizens Bank for sticking with us…. It’s partly financed through private funds and Citizens Bank. No other investors,” Alleyne said.
Features of the building itself, he also noted, include the aluminum siding and the filtered water system. “Throughout our building you can turn on the tap and drink the water, so we have eliminated the fact that we have to purchase water and that kind of thing. We wanted control of the quality of water that the staff and consumer would get,” he added.
In a press release, it was noted the building boasts an earth tremor stabiliser system, a state-of-the-art fire alarm and response system and an A/C chill water system, which is new technology that reduces the carbon footprint of the building itself.
With regards to power, Alleyne said that the company will combine Guyana Power and Light and a generator.
When quizzed about the plans for the existing stores throughout the city, he stated that the launch of the United Centre will see the closure of the others. “Just to have this manned the way we would like it to be manned, every customer to have immediate assistance, we have increased our staff by 45%, so we would need all the help we would get,” he explained.
Alleyne said that it is expected to see the realisation of profit in the immediate future. “It’s going to take a little bit but we are not particularly worried so much about the profit. We are about the experience, we are trying to have the Guyanese public experience,” he stated.
Stores will be opening from 8am to 7pm, while Chester Fried Fast Food will close at 11pm. He noted that after the rooftop services are launched in another two months or so, customers will be offered later services.
