Outside of a name change already set to take effect, Derrimon Trading Limited (DTL) is positioning to lead a complete refreshing of operations for its two US stores when they reopen next month.

The New York-based Food Savers and Good Food for Less retail operations, incorporated as Marnock LLC and Marnock Retail LLC when they were acquired by DTL over three-and-a-half years ago, has since late March remained closed owing to roof damage from adverse weather conditions and longer than expected repair activities.

Working feverishly to have the stores up and running in the next few weeks, DTL Chairman and CEO Derrick Cotterell said it will not be business as usual when they reopen, especially as management pushes to make the entities bigger and better and in sync with other operations across the group.

“During the downtime we have learnt some things, so [we] will be moving to fine-tune the operations of the US stores. We’re going to be allowing orders to be done online through the store where customers can even pack a virtual barrel and we have the goods delivered locally.

“With the planned changes, we know we will do better business and there are also some other strategic initiatives to be rolled out. One of these is the pushing of a wholesale/cash and carry-type model that will allow individual consumers and small business owners, such as restaurant operators, to come in and to buy in bulk. They could have done so before, but the difference now is that the business will be more integrated,” he told the Jamaica Observer during an interview following the company’s annual general meeting on Wednesday.

“We have a lot of plans for the US market, but we first need to reopen and settle down. We have some nice alliances coming, even with some other local companies that will be partnering with us, so things will be looking good as we work to improve those businesses in a very significant way,” Cotterell further said as he noted that repair activities remain on track to meet the October deadline.

The planned name change to Sampars New York, which the chairman told shareholders was also a part of the strategic move, he believes, will resonate better with its target market largely made up of the Caribbean and African Diaspora, among which the name and brand is already popular. Following the rebrand, the stores are to become the ninth and 10th in the Sampars chain, the rest of which operate in Jamaica.

Expecting to draw down substantial payouts from a recent insurance claim in relation to the damage to the stores, Cotterell in noting that he is not yet apprised of the amount, but said he hopes it will be enough to offset the millions lost since the closure of the Brooklyn-based stores.

“We lost six months’ worth of sales, which is close to US$15 million,” he disclosed.

The loss of sales registered for the US stores over the period of closure, chief financial officer Ian Kelly further said, resulted in a decline of about 51 per cent.

When tracked on a five-year trajectory, the performance, he said, also prevented the group from realising a 48 per cent growth in revenues since 2019.

Up to the end of the half year or January to June period of this year, both revenue and profit for DTL fell to $7.8 billion (down 18 per cent) and $97.7 million (down 39 per cent), mainly as a result of the closure which weighed on growth.

Now positioning to tighten some other areas of operation, including a retooling of its Arosa business amid heightened demand as well as a push of its newer Refresh and Delect brands and some others to come shortly, the 25-year-old company, Kelly said, is poised to come back much stronger despite the increased challenges it has so far faced in the current financial year.

“There are many sweet spots in the group, and we intend to continue to put the necessary resources — people, technology etc — behind those sweet spots as we know what the outcome will be, notwithstanding the toughness of the economy,” he said in his report to shareholders.