Ahead of its 30-year anniversary in 2023, PriceSmart Inc will open its 50th location on Braeton Parkway, Portmore, as it expands its operations in Latin America and the Caribbean.

This comes as Jamaica with its single location on Red Hills Road, St Andrew, saw a 10.7 per cent increase in net merchandise sales for the first quarter ending November 30, 2021. The Red Hills Road location was opened in February 2003. PriceSmart has a fresh bakery in Montego Bay, St James. Jamaica was the third best-performing market in the Caribbean segment behind the Dominican Republic and Aruba which have five and one location, respectively. Net merchandise sales for the Caribbean grew by 5.4 per cent to US$268.33 million ($42.04 billion) which saw US$16.45 million ($2.58 billion) in net profit.

“Also, as we previously shared, the Portmore, Jamaica club is progressing nicely. We believe Jamaica is a strong market for us and the sales generated out of our Kingston club have been historically record-setting for that location. So, we’re looking forward to the opening of Portmore in approximately April of this year, and that will mark the 50th club for our company,” PriceSmart CEO Sherry Bahrambeygui commented in a conference call last Friday.

Although Bahrambeygui didn’t confirm if she’d be visiting Jamaica for the grand opening, she did confirm that herself and several other members of the leadership team visited the 48th club opening in Floridablanca, Colombia, in November. PriceSmart currently has nine clubs in Colombia and has already received permits to begin work for a new club in Medellín. There are several other potential locations identified in the region for new clubs as part of the company’s real estate pipeline.

“It felt really good to be back in our markets. And it was quite reassuring to see that our local management team is doing an exceptional job. Our employees were positive and extremely grateful for how they’ve been cared for and protected during this very difficult time,” Bahrambeygui commented. Restrictions in various countries over the last two years have limited the ability for executive management to visit some locations.

PriceSmart’s revenue rose by 11 per cent to US$975.36 million which was driven by the growth in net merchandise sales to US$944.04 million. PriceSmart had 46 clubs in the prior quarter. Net profit improved by 10 per cent to US$30.51 million which included a US $1.9 million hit due to foreign exchange sourcing for Trinidad and Tobago. PriceSmart’s total assets grew by five per cent to US$1.79 billion while equity attributable to shareholders closed the quarter three per cent higher at US$942.15 million.

“On that, if I can add, in recent years, we have invested – and I’m focused on the talent portion right now. We’ve invested in expertise in areas that the company really didn’t have or need years ago. We now, for the first time, in the last year or so, have a chief technology officer. We have an EVP-level professional who is adept at data analytics and helping us use the data that’s being mined from the investments in technology so that we can apply that in a way that allows us to make better decisions, respond more quickly, save in other areas of the business and help us grow in a very disciplined way with data to support our decisions,” Bahrambeygui closed.