Furniture and Appliance outfit Courts Jamaica Limited, a subsidiary of the El Salvador-based Unicomer Group, is positioning to go after sales from the booming tourism industry as it moves along plans to open its 30th store in Drax Hall, St Ann, sometime this year.

Speaking with the Jamaica Observer at the official launch of its 65th anniversary celebrations on Wednesday, vice-president for Unicomer Caribbean Errol Le Blanc said the almost 20,0000 square foot store aims to attract a number of key players in the sector.

“Drax Hall is an area that is developing and we have a lot of customers both across the tourism sector and individual households, a lot of which are in the middle upper-income bracket, and as such the store will have furniture and appliances that are more suitable for these types of customers. We, therefore, think that in putting a store there and making a different type of product offer to these customers will be quite successful,” he said.

According to industry figures revealed by Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett this week, of the almost 10 per cent increase or US$4.4 billion in gross earnings seen during the 2023/24 fiscal year, approximately 40 per cent was retained by the local economy. Upbeat about the prospects for growth, from which Courts and other players in the sector are looking to benefit, Bartlett also pointed to some 20,000 new rooms that are to be added over the next 10-15 years.

The new store, which Le Blanc said is being strategically placed to serve a very vibrant tourism zone on the north coast, is to cater to customers having homes, villas, and Airbnbs to be furnished.

“We think our business solutions will be active in that area, and we will be spending over US$1 million [approximately $155 million at today’s conversion rate] to have it ready this year,” he further told the Caribbean Business Report.

The expansion into Drax Hall, he said, also represents Court’s commitment to innovation and growth as the furniture and appliance giant seeks to meet the evolving needs of customers while providing them with seamless and convenient shopping experiences.

“As a member of the Unicomer family, Courts is proud to be a retailer of choice in the region, also standing as one of the biggest retailers in the Caribbean,” he stated.

Courts, which became a member of Unicomer in 2006, is a large retailer of household items, mainly furniture and appliances. The entity, through some of its in-house brands such as Blue Start Capital (traded as Courts Ready Cash) and Courts Optical along with Ashley Homestore, Lucky Dollar, and Radio Shack, are all subsidiaries of the group. Operating over 200 stores across all brands, Unicomer now operates in a number of markets across the Caribbean, US, and Latin America. The local outfit is currently powered by some 1,100 team members.

Jamaica, which the regional executive said continues to hold a very special place in the company’s Caribbean operations, ranks as one of the markets in which it has operated the longest in the region and has the largest profit contributions, now tracking at about 35-40 per cent of the regional outcome.

Pointing to the development of at least three new Courts stores in the next few years, Le Blanc said the brand remains committed to serving clients in all communities as it continues to be bullish about the growth of its business locally.

“We have a development that we will be putting up in Mandeville, followed by another which we will be doing in Spanish Town, which is to have a bigger and better concept. There is also another that is to come for Ironshore in Montego Bay. This one will be a flagship store and one that will make a very big statement in that area.

“We will be phasing the developments, so all these stores are timed for completion between this year and 2026,” he said.

Managing director of Unicomer Jamaica Edwin Vaquerano, in further lauding the growth throughout the company’s 65 years of existence, said that much more is left to come as it continues to grow and improve the customer experience.

“We started a five-year plan a few years ago and our growth plan sees us adding new stores while upgrading existing ones as we seek to serve our customers better. Following the downturns with COVID, our stores have been steadily growing in double digits, so we are doing really great. Our Courts Optical brand has been growing and is now in 15 locations, four of which we have opened in the last three years. Last year we also opened a new Lucky Dollar store and a Courts store in Portmore Pines and now every new Courts that we will be opening will encompass all the different brands,” Vaquerano said.

“To better the customer experience at the new stores to come, we will be bringing in new brands, such as Home and Nature. We are also now going a lot heavier in digital, so digital experiences, augmented and virtual realities will further allow a lot of those younger customers to open up to our brands and to make more purchases locally. We have also been making heavy investments in logistics so as to ensure faster deliveries and improved add-on and ready-assist services. The new stores will have all these amenities so all our customers can have more options to engage our services,” he added.