Shopping in the Seychelles islands will soon become a spectacular caress of varieties as the country's first hypermarket is set to open on October 2 on the eastern outskirts of the capital of Victoria.
The Seychelles Trading Company (STC) initiated the 3,480 square metre hypermarket- a state-owned enterprise which is one of the major importers, wholesalers and retailers of the islands.
The hypermarket is housed in the 8,000 square metre Bois de Rose Complex on the ground floor, which was a $12.3 million investment by the Seychelles government.
Apart from the hypermarket, the complex has 15 other commercial outlets, mainly emerging small and medium size enterprises as well as banks and telecoms providers.
The island nation in the western Indian Ocean has a population of 90,000 and such a project has attracted a lot of attention in the business community.
"We were discussing about whether we would keep the name hypermarket or not, but we are doing this for Seychelles. At several occasions when I spoke to suppliers they would be astonished of having a hypermarket for the size of our population. For Seychelles, for our population it is a hypermarket," said Veronique Laporte, CEO of STC during a press conference on Thursday.
The hypermarket will be three and a half times larger than the existing main STC Victoria supermarket and is expected to offer customers more convenience due its size and large parking facilities.
"This means that we have more space to put more commodities, more variety and new products that are new to Seychelles that we will be testing to see if the population likes them. People have been concerned about the prices for the products. There will be no dramatic changes in the prices," added Laporte.
It will be open seven days a week and on public holidays.
50 percent from Seychelles suppliers
50 percent of the products in the hypermarket will come from Seychelles' private companies and wholesalers.
STC says it is working in partnership with the Seychelles Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture and local suppliers to provide fresh local produce to the hypermarket, which will have butcher's corner, a fish corner and a fruits and vegetable corner that will be sourced from the local market.
The STC hypermarket will also offer a large range of commodities for family needs such as baby supplies, kids toys and home accessories.
"The hypermarket will also have a specialty corner whereby there will be Japanese, Chinese foods and others. Also included in the Seychelles first grand shopping centre is a café, 'Healthy Living Café' which will allow clients to shop and eat in the same area. There will be promotions throughout the year ... The duty-free gift shop at the New Port will also move inside the hypermarket," explained Laporte.
A range of other businesses such as furniture shops, a hair salon, flower shop and an eye-care centre will offer their products and services in the complex.
Second phase to be ready by December
The second phase of the project will be for services on the first floor of the complex, which will have a food court and games room, and is expected to open by December.
Laporte says the new venture will relieve some pressure on the Victoria supermarket that does not have sufficient space for shoppers and their cars and is often crowded at the end of the month when people receive their salaries and start shopping.
The new complex will create 98 new jobs, while 54 existing STC staff will join the hypermarket team.
The Bois de Rose Complex is owned by the Seychelles government and managed by Société Seychelloise d'Investissement (SSI), a state company which oversees its commercial interests.
The building of the complex was started in 2008 through a partnership between SSI and Groupe Caillé, a French importer and distributor based on Reunion island, with plans to open a French brand Casino Géant hypermarket.
In 2013, Groupe Caillé experienced financial difficulties and pulled out. The Seychelles government took over ownership of the project, saying it would redevelop the building in order to recover the investment.
