PEOPLE have to eat. Omar Allen is counting on that simple fact to help make his six-month-old minimart in the upscale Long Mountain community in Kingston a success.

“It’s food. Everybody eats. So if I can supply one thing that you want, I’ll be alright. I don’t need you to come in and buy out the place. If you are the only person to come in and buy organic potato chips then I will still buy it for you because the opportunity is there for you to pick up a gum and/or a soda (on one of your visits),” the 34-year-old Allen told Career & Education. “Food is not like clothes where you buy a shirt today and then you don’t have to buy one for another 10 years. You’re always eating.”

Called Harmony@LMCC (Long Mountain Country Club), the business — housed inside a 1,000-square-foot space located at 1 Mountain Pride Boulevard — opened its doors in June last year at a cost of $600,000.

The name — for which Allen credits his sister Gail-Ann — is intended to inspire a sense of family among customers.

“Basically, we are trying to promote a Whole Foods Market (concept). At Whole Foods what they did was promote family among the workers. We didn’t have a manager or a supervisor per sé, we had a team. And with everybody who came into the supermarket, they tended to have you go out to meet them and be friendly. (This is) because when people know you, they are comfortable with you and will come back,” noted Allen, who worked as a manager with Whole Foods while in the States.

“That is what we are trying to achieve at Harmony. And it’s definitely working. (For example) the kids call me ‘uncle Omar’ and my cashier (they call him) ‘uncle Dwayne’ as opposed to Mr Allen or Mr Lawrence,” added the Wolmer’s old boy, who holds an associate degree in Business Administration from Essex County College in New Jersey.

Allen returned to Jamaica after living in the United States for a decade. Once here, he knew it was time to fulfil his long-held dream of running his own business.

“I came for a wedding (in March last year — the second visit in 10 years) and drove by the building. I asked my sister about it and she said it was closed. So I said, ‘I am coming home, what’s happening?’ She made some calls and here I am,” he told Career & Education.

“It’s one of the best feelings in the world, being your own boss,” added Allen, clearly happy at the way things have been going.

To make it happen, he has had to meet only financial challenges.

“(There were) no personal sacrifices per sé. (In terms of financial challenges) we — my two silent partners and I — took out some loans against some property we own,” he said.

“The major challenge was getting the goods for the store on a tight budget. (But) we established credit with most of our major suppliers,” he added.

Now almost seven months on, Allen has close to 200 customers and anticipates only increasing numbers.

Customer service, he said, will pave the way for that.

“The bottom line is that the customer is always right,” he said. “I tell my cashiers that no matter what happens, the customer is always right. If someone comes in here and steals something, they shouldn’t deal with it until I come in. I tell them that the customer is the boss; they have more power to fire them than I do.

“So I need pleasant faces and I don’t care if your boyfriend or your girlfriend did you wrong last night. The customer must come in here and not know that anything went on last night,” added the man who has settled down to dealing with the day-to-day running of the small business.

Allen’s commitment to hard work should also come in handy.

“I don’t really have a philosophy (that gets me through the day). I just know that I have obligations and goals that I’ve set that I would like to meet. So I just work hard everyday,” he told Career & Education.

Allen and his two silent partners are now looking into opening a second store by the end of the year. It is something that he looks forward to.

Meanwhile, things are looking up with the business as Allen moves to serve the estimated 650 households in Long Mountain.

“This is the only supply mart within about a two-mile radius because we are on top of the hill. I want to supply all these people with whatever they can’t get at the supermarket, which is basically what happens now. But some people come in and buy a little more. So recently we had to start carrying products such as beer and female products and stationery,” he said. “We are now running into inventory of $600,000 monthly. When I just started it was like $200,000 to $300,000 monthly.”

Harmony is open 8:00 am to 10:00 pm Mondays to Fridays, and on Saturdays from 9:00 am to 10:00 pm. On Sundays, it opens from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm.

Quizzed as to why he had returned to Jamaica to start a business at this time of economic uncertainty, Allen said there was no place else he would rather be.

“It is rough up there (in the US) and I would really prefer to suffer at home,” he said smiling.

Allen’s tips for prospective entrepreneurs

* Set your goals.

* Do some research on the business you would like to start.

* Make sure that you secure your running capital for at least a year before you start.

* Do not give up on your business. There will be times when it will get challenging but you can’t give up.

* Remember that it’s your business and whatever you put into it is what you can expect to get out of it. So put in your best effort.