Aug 2016 Financial News

What recession? asks Standard MD

Aug 24, 2016

WHAT recession? That was the question asked yesterday by the managing director of Standard Distributors Ltd, Adam Sabga, as he addressed the reopening of the Standard showroom at ANSA House, corner of Queen and Henry Streets, Portof- Spain. The flagship store was being reopened after a seven-week renovation in which its three floors were gutted and rebuilt but the store was only closed to the public for three weeks.

Sabga said Standard had built its survival on customer service, putting the customer at the centre of everything it did. He said that “taking this approach has allowed us at Standard to continue to flourish during what is heralded as hard times. Some have even labelled it a recession. I stand before you today and ask ‘what recession?’ I can make this bold statement because we are now in our second consecutive year of double-digit growth and this validates that we are indeed on the right track.” Chairman of Standard Distributors Ltd, Nabeel Hadeed, expressed similar sentiments. He said Standard has always been synonymous with “quality, longevity, integrity and family.” He said Standard was celebrating the 71st year of its existence and while many of the bigname stores of the era in which it was founded are no more, Standard is still standing strong.

He said the company always tried to bring the best quality, the best prices and the best customer experience and these would always be its commitment. He said the location at the corner of Queen and Henry Streets was sacred ground for the Sabga family because the headquarters of the group, ANSA House, was there. He said the company believed in the philosophy that “once you treat your customers well, they will always return.” Hadeed said they were excited about the future of Standard and had great plans for the company with upgrades and expansions.

He said, “In recent times we have been surrounded by talk of recession and downturn. We’ve been there before. Upturns, downturns, including failed insurrections and destruction of our showrooms, this one in particular. But this is how we respond: we upgrade and we improve in every way.” Stressing that despite talk of recession in the country, he said Standard and the ANSA McAL Group saw only a bright future.

“We see opportunity and we are very optimistic. We are optimistic for our company, for our group — the ANSA McAL Group — we are optimistic for our country.” Port-of-Spain Mayor Keron Valentine delivered the feature address in which he said that in the next fiscal term the Port-of-Spain City Corporation would aggressively address the challenges of the capital city. He recalled the days when people could come into Port-of- Spain to “window shop” and said the corporation does not want the city to die but it must be an “all hands on deck” approach to dealing with the problems of the city.

He said the people of Port-of-Spain will once again have a user-friendly city. “Standard is a household name,” he said, “and the people of Port-of-Spain want to commit this morning that we will do all that we can to treat with the various challenges that you have to endure on a daily basis and I am really happy to salute the ANSA Group for making this bold step in the upgrade and relaunch of this milestone location here.

“We do not want our capital city to die. We will do all that we can, but we can’t do it alone and we will continue to need an ‘all hands on deck’ approach, all stakeholders and major stakeholders like yourself to help us in achieving what we want, in making Port-of-Spain that model city that it once was,” Valentine said.

He gave an undertaking that the corporation will do everything possible to ensure “that Port-of- Spain once again becomes a user friendly city, a clean city, a city that we do not have to worry too much about crime and criminality.”

Source:
By VERNE BURNETT
Newsday
Wednesday August 24, 2016

http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,232314.html