NASSAU, BAHAMAS – The owner of Abaco’s major supermarket yesterday urged other private sector interests to do their part in helping to restore commerce to the hurricane-ravaged island.
Chad Sawyer, owner of the Maxwell’s and Price Right food stores told Eyewitness News Online, said: “We all have to do our part”.
“Abaco isn’t about a single person it’s all of us. I’m trying to do the best I can. For Abaco to get up and going the business community has to come together.
“For those that are come back please come back. If you’ve gone, please still come back and clean up your property,” said Sawyer.
More than two months since Hurricane Dorian devastated portions of the island, Sawyer noted that clean-up remains a major challenge.
“The big thing right is the clean up. People are still either not cleaning up or unable to clean up. The roads are still mess. I think more could be done to clean up the roadside,” Sawyer said.
Sawyer’s Maxwell’s Supermarket reopened nearly two weeks ago.
Commonwealth Bank has been given space in Maxwell’s to help restore banking and financial services to Abaco.
“We have been opened about 10-12 days,” Sawyer said.
“Things have been steady. There’s business out thereabout obviously not what it was. We are still stocking and are open with limited hours. We are closing at 3 pm. I think we will be increasing that next week. We close early so that we can allow our staff to get home and take care of their personal affairs before it gets too dark,” Sawyer said.
He added: “We haven’t let any one go. We have some that have moved on and some working limited days per week but we haven’t let anyone go. We have 60 persons with us at present.”
