By Aubrey Campbell

NEW YORK, NY

Jamaican American entrepreneur Andrew Morris made his big ‘small business’ and judging from the response, everything is falling in place.

With the help of the West Hempstead Chamber of Commerce, the food retailer officially opened his new, multi-service Sam’s Caribbean Marketplace at 225 Hempstead Turnpike, in the West Hempstead township of Long Island (Nassau County).

The new store, about 2 miles from the old location, is housed in a 4,000 square feet space and gives the enterprising CEO more space to work with. “The move is timely as we were limited at the previous location even as our customer base continued to grow in store and online.”

The grand opening festivities capped a three month ‘soft opening and familiarisation period for staff, distributors and suppliers to find their footing in the new facility which will offer expanded goods and service in almost all areas, including online shopping.

With suppliers offering samplings to the scores of patrons who streamed in and out throughout the day, there were no shortage of congratulations via the public address system and on live radio, covering the event.

Jamaican Leonard Lawrence of a Ronkonkoma (LI) address, used his lunch hour to check out the new digs and was not disappointed as he echoed the sentiments of many.

“it’s my first time at the new location and I’m impressed with the variety, they have it all here.” Royal Caribbean Bakery’s CEO Vincent HoSang, among the suppliers on hand, showed his support by serving up healthy portions of cocktail patties and bun/cheese sandwiches to everyone’s delight.

Other notables who turned the parking lot into a shoppers’ fair included Grace Foods USA, Tru Juice, LIME, Digicel, Nu Species and JN Money Transfer. Sam’s Caribbean Marketplace was opened in 1993 at 43 Main Street, Hempstead.