About Massy Stores (SLU) Ltd.

Company status: Private company, part of the Massy Group, a diversified regional conglomerate in 6 Caribbean countries (Saint Lucia, Barbados, Guyana, St. Vincent & the Grenadines and Trinidad) which employs over 11,000 employees

Year of registration: 2004

Number of employees: About 1,300

Business sector: Supermarket retail (grocery, non food) and distribution

Martin Dorville, Managing Director of Massy Stores SLU Ltd. and Massy Stores St. Vincent & Grenadines

Martin has been in the business of retail for the last 29 years with a career that started in the hardware business and transitioned to the grocery retail business. His qualifications include an MBA in Marketing and Finance from the Warwick Business School, England, preceded by the completion of his first degree at the University of the West Indies Mona Campus, Jamaica, where he graduated with a First Class Honors degree in Management. In his current role as Managing Director of Massy Stores (SLU) and (SVG) Martin’s responsibilities take him throughout the region. He led Massy Stores Trinidad’s retail entry into Guyana in 2016 and currently serves as a Director on the board of Massy Stores Trinidad.

Martin is a former President the St. Lucia Chamber of Commerce (2016-2018) and since 2014 has served on the Board of the Eastern Caribbean Financial Holdings Company (ECFH) among others.

Dunstan Demille, Perishables Manager at Massy Stores SLU Ltd.

Dunstan is the Perishables Manager and brings to his role some 15 years of experience in the hotel sector where he worked in various capacities. He received the Ste Lisi Par Excellence award as “Manager of the Year’ for large hotels in St. Lucia”, while serving as Purchasing and Stores Manager for Wyndham Morgan Bay Resort. He is currently responsible for all agricultural programmes and products for Massy Stores. Dunstan currently serves as the Secretary of the Caribbean Agri Business Association (CABA) and a member of the Special Advisory Committee member for the PROPEL project.

Vision: The Premier Caribbean Basin Retailer – Continuously Extending Our Reach

Mission: Creating Value. Transforming life through:

1. Commitment to the ultimate satisfaction and happiness of our Associates
2. Continuously building the trust and loyalty of our customers
3. Delivering a delightful, pleasurable, and safe shopping experience to all.
4. Fostering mutually beneficial and ethical relationships with our suppliers.
5. Caring about our communities and our environment

The Massy Group has following values as a regional group:

• Honesty & Integrity
• Love & Care
• Growth & Continuous Improvement
• Responsibility
• Collaboration
• Respect

The Massy Group also has a Customer Service Philosophy:

• Service Motto: Delighting Everyone, Every day, Every time
• Tagline: Our Family serving your family

Context

Background: Massy Stores SLU Ltd includes:

• 11 Supermarkets spread across the island –7 north/2 south/2 west coast
• 1 Gourmet Store
• 1 Warehouse/Club store (Mega)
• 1 Mini Supermarket in the making (formerly Eroline Foods in Soufriere)
• 2 Home Stores
• 9 Pharmacies
• 3 Warehouses (Dry, Perishables and Nonfoods)

All stores have BOSL ATM service

Position in the market: Massy Stores SLU Ltd is St. Lucia’s largest supermarket chain.

Relationship: With the COVID-19 crisis leading to the extended closures of hotels and restaurants, farmers faced significant market access difficulties. In the short term, Massy Stores created a plan to resume buying of their production. With regard to the longer term, Massy Stores made a strong commitment to work closer with the local farmers, to help them transform the sector and achieve some niche markets.

Moreover, Massy Stores aims to improve relationships with small and medium local manufacturers who supply the stores with products. In light of COVID 19 and the emphasis on local production the company launched the Massy Stores Local Supplier Campaign. The campaign seeks to leverage the “Buy Local” thrust by giving increased visibility to selected small and medium sized suppliers. The focus is on telling their story, promoting confidence in their product and ultimately helping to boost the local economy. The company’s is using all of its promotional networks, including social media, YouTube, and print communication to tell the story of the manufacturer and inspire confidence in their product.

See below the first in the series which highlighted Artisal Pastry Ltd., a baking company run by a local couple. Their fresh French-inspired pastries are available in Massy Stores and promoted by the company.

Products covered and markets

Main products: The wide range of products available at Massy Stores Supermarkets include fresh products, such as fruit and vegetables, eggs, poultry, cocoa products, honey, local fish and sea food, as well as value added products produced from raw agricultural materials in St. Lucia, and other grocery products like cleaning and hygiene products.

Working closely with local manufacturers enables Massy Stores Supermarket to widen its product range and supplier base. For example, the company supports Too Skoops a local company which produces the vegan ice-cream (the first of its kind on island). The ice creams are dairy free, gluten free and available in seven flavors: Chocolate, Coconut, Ginger Carrot, Guava, Mango, Peanut and Soursop.

Main markets: Local (household consumption)

Main services: Retail and Distribution

Innovations: Milestones and expansion plans

Needs for upscaling: To continuously extend its reach, Massy Stores steadily focuses on its team’s development in terms in areas of technical competence, people management and social interaction (including through volunteerism).

Success factors and lessons learned

The Massy Group works on different Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) areas with positive impacts:

• Agriculture: Massy works closely with farmers
• Health and Wellness: Massy supports many causes, such as Cancer and Diabetes
• Youth Development through Sports
• Environment
• Community and Culture

Massy Stores SLU is committed to partnering with environmental organizations, agencies and concerned citizens to reduce environmental harm caused by our modern lifestyles and waste disposal habits. In 2017 and then again in 2019, the company partnered with the JUA KALI Pop-Up Depots, a collection platform set up to accept PET1 plastics, tin and glass as an alternative to landfill dumping. With Massy loyalty points offered to customers as an incentive, over 500,000 units of plastic, glass and tin were diverted from landfill dumping. The company has sponsored and advocated for many of the current recycling programmes currently operating on the island, the most current being the OECS REPLAST project. Massy Stores also encourages composting supports the efforts of the St. Lucia Solid Waste Management Authority in public education and promotion of this practice, which helps to keep food scraps and organic waste out of landfills.

On July 3rd, 2018, Massy Stores across the region launched an environmental initiative to reduce the use of single use plastic shopping bags offered at the stores, by promoting reusable carrier bags as a shopping alternative. On that day, each Massy Stores territory also introduced a charge on plastic bags, as a deterrent to manage single use plastic bag consumption by its customers. Here in St. Lucia this move has resulted in a reduction (by over 80 million) in the number of plastic bags which would have been used for packaging groceries and ultimately dumped at the landfill. Importantly, reusable shopping bags are now a normal part of the shopping experience in Saint Lucia.

In responding to the COVID-19 crisis, Massy Stores also worked with the Marketing Division of the Ministry of Agriculture on the Seven Crop Project. This led to the creation of Premium Corners at Massy Stores showcasing locally produced crops with a focus on enhancing consumption of local fruits and vegetables.

Additional Resources

• Business profile (English)
• Business profile (French)
• Business profile (Spanish)