SELECT Grocers is partnering with regional technology company Intcomex to open a full scale technology store at its new location at Mellennium Mall in May Pen, Clarendon.

The new store will be located on the upper level of the space and is being called Select Tech.

Select Tech will occupy close to 5,000 sq ft of the 41,000-sq ft space.

In an exclusive interview with the Jamaica Observer, Derrick Cotterell, chairman and chief executive officer of Derrimon Trading Company [the owners of Select Grocers], said, "This is Jamaica's first proper, full electronic/technology store. You have little technology stores all over the place but nothing that is nearly 5000 sq ft. So, you can come in like a Best Buy and shop for all of the technology stuff that you want."

He explained that the partnership with Intcomex is a good fit, noting that Intcomex has been a major technology solutions firm in Latin America and the Caribbean.

"We recognised that it's technology time — everybody has the gadgets, everybody wants the latest technology, but its availability in Jamaica is not where you'd want it to be. We're partnering with Intcomex here — they have a lot of stuff but they don't have a retail space. We started out with 1,000 sq ft and we realised that wasn't going to do anything because they have a lot of stuff," Cotterell stated.

Intcomex has a network of 15 subsidiaries throughout the region plus 2 consolidation centres located in Miami and Panama, serving 41 countries.

Intcomex currently serves over 50,000 resellers, represented by value-added channels, retailers and telecom operators.

Head of retail and group purchasing at Select Grocers Oral Richards described the Select Tech store as an "experience centre" which also includes a gaming area.

He said "in less than hours you can have a smart house".

One of the technologies offered in the store is the Nexxt home system. Nexxt Solutions Connectivity is a leading manufacturer of the most comprehensive and competitive line of wireless data and surveillance solutions for networking and connectivity products, known for their performance, reliability as well as for their user-friendly operation and configuration.

The sales agents in the store explained that all the Nexxt solutions can be controlled remotely using an app which can be downloaded for free on your mobile device.

Cotterell added, "We'll have other stuff in here too. As we go along we'll fill in but we pretty much have a wide cross section, probably about 10,000 SKUs [stock-keeping units], everything you could think of from phones, phone accessories to televisions — and everything is at a very good price."

He told the Business Observer that Select Tech is only located in May Pen for now but hinted that Select Tech will eventually be in all Select Grocers locations.