One of the more enlightening sights that attended the programme of events held to mark the thirtieth year since the establishment of The Gift Centre, was that of the company’s 71-year-old founder, Doris Lewis, who she assured us, had briefly ‘slipped out of retirement’ to place her own personal imprimatur on the commemorative programme.
In terms of stature, Doris Lewis is a far from imposing woman. There is, however, a certain dominance in her presence that derives, it seems, from her more than four decades involved in one business or another, beginning with her father’s grocery shop.
When we met with her at The Gift Centre’s 46 Hadfield Street, Stabroek, premises, she had assembled around her what one might call the ‘hands on’ team, the day-to-day decision-makers, headed by one of her three sons, Andrew, her younger daughter Dionne, and her daughter-in-law. Her interview with the Stabroek Business was as perfect an illustration as one can get of her leadership style, the answers to most of the questions that we posed reflecting a mix of her own considerable entrepreneurial experience coupled with the contemporary thinking of a well-schooled team of second generation managers, her children.
She wanted the commemorative event for The Gift Centre to derive, first, from the instinctively charitable nature of a devout Christian woman as well as from her understanding of the travails of a society that is, even now, ‘fighting its own demons’ in the form of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Accordingly, the programme underscored ‘giving’ as its cornerstone… making the types of contributions, she says, that are designed, both literally and figuratively, to “help people get up and moving again.” So that on Friday August 13 (seemingly unmindful of the jinx associated with the date) three establishments associated with the restoration of physical and mental health – The Ministry of Health, the Ptolemy Reid Rehabilitation Centre, and the Salvation Army, each received gifts of “mainly fitness equipment” from The Gift Centre. With regard to the gifts donated to the Ministry of Health, a media release from The Gift Centre said the fitness equipment “will be distributed to various physiotherapy departments” of the Ministry while the equipment afforded the Ptolemy Reid Rehabilitation Centre “will be used to assist in the treatment of patients with various conditions.” In the instance of the Salvation Army, the release said that the donation of equipment will be used in exercise and therapy and according to the Salvation Army’s Programme Director, it will be used in the institution’s Rehabilitation Programme. “which aims to transform the lives of men suffering from addictions.”
We had previously traced the history of Doris Lewis as a businesswoman, from her early beginning as the ‘right hand’ as a grocer’s daughter to her own subsequent excursion into a number of earlier entrepreneurial ventures. One is hard-pressed to think of a woman who has made a more profound contemporary contribution to the growth of a culture of ‘women in business’ in Guyana.
Nor is The Gift Centre’s commemorative event limited to charitable causes. Last Monday, August 23, The Gift Centre launched its extended promotion initiative which allocates to its customers a chance to win one of thirty prizes for every $5,000 spent in the store. The prizes include fitness equipment, appliances, and an assortment of other prizes. The ‘grand prize’ the release says is a complete York Home Gym. Beyond that, its recently launched website signals The Gift Centre’s accelerated emphasis on drawing public attention to what it has to offer.
Asked about her vision for The Gift Centre, Mrs Lewis, in her customarily modest manner says that the company’s social responsibility role that has steered it in the direction of “contributing to various religious bodies, NGO’s, community activities and programmes that benefit the nation” remain much of its focus. At the same time, The Gift Centre’s General Manager, Andrew Lewis, wants the public to know that the store continues to lead the way in providing gifts for various occasions that strike a balance between quality and affordability.
Situated at 46 Hadfield Street, Stabroek, in Georgetown, The Gift Centre has over time, succeeded in presenting a face to ‘taste and quality’, boasting gift brands that include Cartier, Seiko, Citizen, Casio, Fossil, Guess, Cross, Parker, Black & Decker, Oster, Leatherman, Samsonite, Airliner, Pro-Form and York.
Born out of what Mrs Lewis says was her own family’s difficulties in securing gifts for family and friends, The Gift Centre remains eager to continue to serve a wider national market.
