PROGRESSIVE Foods will open a new supermarket in Portmore come December. The entity, owned by the Progressive Grocers of Jamaica Limited, a consortium in which the Loshusans have membership, will be the third of its kind in the island.

Members of the Progressive Grocers consortium also operate their individual line of businesses, such as Brooklyn Supermarket and Shoppers Fair.

“This is our line of business for a number of years and we hope that this one will be just as successful as the others,” Docky Lym, owner of Brooklyn Supermarket, told Sunday Finance.

Progressive Foods joins a line of big supermarket brands which have established a foothold in the St Catherine municipality. These include Hi-Lo Foods Store, Empire Supermarket, Joongs Supermarket and MegaMart in the Portmore community. Adding to that, several small wholesales have been popping up across the community.

Grocery outlets, including retail grocers, now total over 22 stores across Portmore.

Also, online grocery stores, such as NetTrolley.com, are being used more locally. Dave Scott doesn’t expect Empire in Portmore Pines to become less profitable as a result of increased competition. The produce manager at the supermarket said that “Empire is known as the low price leader so we will continue offering the lowest prices.”

“More and more housing schemes are being built and people are coming over,” said Scott. “It’s just a sense of choice in the brand of supermarket and the availability and the prices of the product.”

Other supermarket operators reckon that the stores which service the community up to now have been successful over the years because of the convenience when shopping.

While the prices may be slightly higher than that of the wholesales, shoppers are still inclined to visit the supermarkets when they are able to choose their own items, without the hassle.

Progressive Foods already has supermarkets is located in Ironshore and Fairview, Montego Bay; while another two developments are also underway in Ocho Rios, St Ann, and May Pen, Clarendon.

This brings the total number of supermarkets operating under the Progressive Grocers consortium to 20, including the affiliated chains.

Lym hopes to employ over 100 individuals to carry out operations at the new Portmore location.