The way consumers shop is changing, at least in the old capital Spanish Town, St Catherine.

Nestled in the heart of the bustling town stood rows of little shops, offering everything for the household along with personal items. Among them, a thriving handful of wholesale shops largely owned by Chinese immigrants.

But the business landscape has since evolved, and the Chinese, as well as Jamaican business operators alike, are moving away from the wholesale and retail store concept. Instead, the businesses are being replaced by supermarkets and minimarts, a retail concept that not only offers operators three to five times the space of the wholesale store. The upshot — wide aisles, carefully crafted to influence the consumer’s shopping experience and ultimately boost sales, and no jam-packed storefront.

“It makes more sense for us to operate a supermarket business rather than a wholesale. People were of the view that the price in the wholesale is much better, but over time they have come to realise that it’s really the same unless you are buying real large quantities and can negotiate the price,” Stanley, a Jamaican-Chinese owner of the newly opened Sligoville Supermarket, told the Jamaica Observer.

“Consumers have also expressed their annoyance with the jam-packed wholesales. Quite often they are forced to leave their homes early to avoid the crowd. But with the supermarkets, people can shop with ease and the opening hours are more convenient to the average working individual,” he added.

Sligoville Supermarket is one of at least five supermarkets that have opened in the town in recent months as business owners jockey for a share of the retail grocery and household items market. The supermarket opens its doors at 9 am and closes at 8 pm. In contrast, the wholesale business closes its doors at 6 pm, with the possibility of earlier closure on Wednesdays.

Thomas, a data clerk at Jiabaili Supermarket in Greendale area, told the Business Observer that transitioning to a supermarket model from wholesale business provides consumers with an enhanced shopping experience, allowing them to personally select their items, as opposed to being served through a small space from a grilled storefront.

“In Spanish Town, there are derelict buildings, some of which have great square footage. And so business operators have the opportunity to expand into a wider variety of products than what you find in the typical wholesale.”

“Additionally, with the supermarket business, it’s less likely that consumers are only going to pick up the items on their list. When they are free to move about through the store, they will see other items that they want or even things they didn’t know they wanted until they see it on the shelves,” Thomas said.

By definition, wholesale shops are businesses that sell goods in large quantities to retailers, businesses, or other wholesalers rather than to individual consumers. These shops typically offer discounted prices for bulk purchases, making them attractive to businesses looking to stock up on inventory to resell at a profit.

But in Jamaica, the wholesale business model is almost non-existent in the grocery business. Both the wholesale and retail operations are often combined to maximise benefits.

“Because of this merged business model, what you found is that the ordinary consumer would come to the wholesale to do their shopping. They would pick up items in threes or by the dozen to get better prices and that may have worked for a while, but the savings got less and less as the price of goods went up. So now, it doesn’t really make that much difference,” Belinda Masters, another data clerk at Jiabaili Supermarket, said.

The growth of the wholesale and retail business in Jamaica began around the mid-19th century, after many Chinese labourers were brought to the island as indentured servants after the abolition of slavery. They sought better economic prospects and over time, many Chinese immigrants became successful entrepreneurs.

Chinese-Jamaicans own a variety of businesses across different sectors, including restaurants, grocery stores, wholesale businesses, hardware stores, manufacturing companies, and even financial institutions.

Their involvement in the wholesale and retail trade in Jamaica is quite significant. Many Chinese-owned wholesale and retail businesses operate across the island, supplying a wide range of goods to retailers, restaurants, and other businesses. These business owners often import products from China and other countries, offering competitive prices and a diverse selection of goods.

Wholesale shops typically specialise in various products, ranging from food and household items to electronics and clothing. These were often separate businesses.

However, the transition to supermarkets or minimarts business owners are stocking all the items in one place, effectively creating a one-stop shop for consumers, catering to the evolving needs of consumers in Spanish Town and beyond.

Take for example, the recently opened Jiabaili Supermarket stocks liquors, grocery items, meats, ground provision, hair and personal care items, baby care, clothing wear, housewares, small appliances and electronics.

“We will soon be diversifying our product portfolio. We can’t say what we are going into next, but we are confident that it will bring more customers to the store and it will make us more competitive,” Masters said.