Gaming company, pawn shop tapped for State Mall

Businessman Winston Lee has completed at least seven of the 16 shops he is developing near Cross Roads in St Andrew.

The new State Mall complex under development will eventually replace the grocery business, Key Foods Supermarket, that Lee closed down just months into its operation.

The grocer/real-estate investor has, so far, spent about US$700,000 or approximately J$60 million on the transformation, according to Project Coordinator Steve Leahong.

The seven shops already completed house shoe retailer Payless Shoe Source, clothing stores Brit Bran Fashions, Miami Heat and Jamaica Fashion, beauty salon Samantha's Beauty and Attitude, Sparkles Jewellery, a Western Union outlet, and Paper Gold Cambio.

The other 10 shops will become available by the second week in December, Leahong told Wednesday Business.

Incoming tenant, according to Leahong, include Parker Jewellery, Patel's Appliance and Electronics, Little Tokyo restaurant, Golden Link Traders, a pharmacy, and a pawn shop called Cashwiz. One store is not yet rented, the project coordinator said.

Keith Myers, the chairman of Cashwiz, said his pawn shop would occupy 6,000 square feet in what was previously the storage area of key Foods. The space will be distributed 3,000 square feet on the ground floor, which will be used for the business operations, and the other 3,000 upstairs will be used for office space.

Cashwiz will trade in gold and other jewellery, computer parts, electronics, and more Myers said.

He also said Cashwiz would be opening anothershop in May Pen.

The State Mall leases run for five years for large companies and three years for small businesses, according to Leahong.

LIME Jamaica has confirmed discussions to establish one of its lifestyle stores at the complex; while Leahong says talks are under way with a gaming company to take the space previously used by Key Foods.

"In constructing the mall, we were approached by a large corporate entity that falls under the Betting Gaming and Lotteries Act, about using the space for a gaming lounge. We want to diversify the business activities in Cross Roads and give it more depth, and they gave us an offer that we thought was in the best interest of the location," he said.

The gaming company will take up the space that formerly housed the supermarket, spanning 6,000 square feet. That tenant will offer cambio services, a modernised gaming lounge, payment centre, sports betting, remittances services and other lottery services, said the project coordinator.

The description of services fits the offerings of Supreme Ventures Limited (SVL), but the lottery and gaming company's vice-president of corporate communications, Sonia Davidson, said she knew of no plan to locate business at State Mall. She said, however, that SVL has broad plans to expand its lottery offices and gaming lounges.

Meantime, Leahong said State Mall's owner has acquired additional property to the rear of the complex, which will be flattened and used to double the existing parking spaces from 90 to 180, starting in January - allowing time for the current tenants to vacate the property.

Winston Lee was formerly involved in Lee's Family Food Fair but relinquished his role in the family business to concentrate on his own projects and investments. He started Key Supermarket earlier this year but shut down the business months later in October. Super Plus, which occupied the space before Key Foods, had similarly sold out.

Lee also owns the green grocery, Fresh Approach, which operates from Constant Spring Road, and is the developer/owner of Bargain Mall at Half-Way Tree in St Andrew, another complex that previously housed a Super Plus store before Lee transformed it into shops.

marcella.scarlett@gleanerjm.com