By Alicia Roache, Staff Reporter
Lenbert Williams with his mobile showroom and driving billboard for Suave Fashions. - Ricardo Makyn / Staff Photographer
YOU'RE STANDING along the road and you see a bus approaching. As it gets closer you realise it is not your average bus. It is painted in bright green, orange and yellow, and in addition to the many brand names which adorn the side of the bus, there is the veritable slogan: 'You are judged by what you wear'.
This is the 'mobile showroom' of Suave Fashions. If you want to be judged favourably, the slogan suggests, then wearing designer shoes and clothing is the thing to do.
Owner and operator of the combination store and bus that operates from White Swan Plaza, Negril, Lenbert Williams, says he developed the idea a few years ago out of a desire to advertise his store and sell his products. Later, the bus would be used to transport his wares, deliver to his clients and to shuttle his customers to and from the store.
PATH TAKEN
The idea of selling clothes out of a van or car is certainly not a new one. Williams too, started from the back of his car four years ago. He remembers going overseas and purchasing 40 pairs of shoes, from which 39 were sold. The next step was moving into a very small shop, approximately eight by eight. That was followed by his move into the 30 by 20 store which he now occupies, along with a mobile showroom that is the bus.
Williams has proven he knows how to take it to the next level, and his mobile showroom is no different. The coaster in which he transports his items has been fashioned to look like the inside of a store.
The floor is carpeted, the bus fully air conditioned, and there is adequate space to walk around and view the items on the display shelves, or sit and try them on, while listening to 'nice music'.
Lay-away and credit are also offered to repeat customers, which Williams says is 90 per cent of his clients. But Williams does not want to stop yet.
"My vision is to be the best shoe store in the Caribbean, and one day to start my own label," he says.
To market his products, Williams says he goes to popular events, such as football matches, or purchases his spot at festivals and trade shows, and there he issues thousands of business cards to patrons who express an interest in the contents of the bus.
"I do some selling, but the primary focus is to advertise the store and advertise the product," he says. The product includes men's and women's clothing and casual shoes from Liz Claiborne, Aerosoles, Nine West, Tommy Hifiger, Clarks, Timberland, and Giorgio Brutini, to Bob Marley. Dockers, Levi's, Gap and Old Navy are among the brands of clothing sold by Suave Fashions.
EFFICIENCY
The bus is certainly a cheaper and more efficient way of selling clothes. It is an easy way to cover the 10 to 15 hotels, and their over 600 workers each, that cover Negril. The bus uses diesel fuel in a 'very efficient' engine, according to Williams, and once the insurance on the bus is paid, the $5,000 per month on gas is a major save from the $30,000 per month for renting the store. Yet, Williams says he prefers to sell from his shop, which is run by his business partner and girlfriend Vonicent Lee.
"She does the paperwork, accounting and controlling, and I do the selling and marketing and so on," he says.
