Doing business- day to day issues

All depends on what the business is and whether it's sorely needed or not. Many small businesses have left the islands leaving a great demand for some things. If you are looking for info on the legal/government requirements check out the DLCA web site.

Yea you're gonna have to be WAY more specific.

Well, let's rephrase the question: "What business is the island sorely missing, that you wish it had" I guess we would need to know which island as well.

target

Have you checked with the http://www.usvieda.org/? The website has information on relocating existing businesses. Good luck!

target

Seeing that they are over priced, they would fit right in with the islands. Although better than kmart, still most of their product is from china.

actually, kmart has good quality on clothing but target has a better housewares section

actually, kmart has good quality on clothing but target has a better housewares section

I was actually a district manager with Kmart in new England 12 years ago and left the company for better opportunities. I was actually impressed that they were stocked very well and they had a handle on freight flow to the islands. I'm not sure how they do it now, but store managers came from stateside, had a 2 year commitment to run the stores in the VI.
The one thing that would concern me is having 2 on STX. I don't see how it's profitable for the stores with each only serving about 25,000 residents each. With the difficulties that they are going through, I wouldn't be surprised if one closes.

Sorry to hijack the thread, I know its about doing business on the island, carry on. 🙂

You may benefit from information from these sites as well as the above mentioned https://www.usvieda.org

http://www.chamber-commerce.net/dir/11649/St--Thomas-St--John-Chamber-of-Commerce-in-Charlotte-Amalie

http://www.kellfer.com/practice-areas/edc-program/

actually, kmart has good quality on clothing but target has a better housewares section

I was actually a district manager with Kmart in new England 12 years ago and left the company for better opportunities. I was actually impressed that they were stocked very well and they had a handle on freight flow to the islands. I'm not sure how they do it now, but store managers came from stateside, had a 2 year commitment to run the stores in the VI.
The one thing that would concern me is having 2 on STX. I don't see how it's profitable for the stores with each only serving about 25,000 residents each. With the difficulties that they are going through, I wouldn't be surprised if one closes.

Sorry to hijack the thread, I know its about doing business on the island, carry on. 🙂

Both Kmarts on STX are always very busy whenever I've been there. Not a lot of competition other than each other, even with mail order. The sunny-isle store told me they send their out of season inventory to F-sted because they don't have room for it. I just read through the latest long lists of Sears and Kmart closings last week, so glad VI wasn't on the list. But if they don't get their act together soon and stop bleeding money they will all close. And then there will be an answer to the OPs question. Their customer service is lacking and you can't even contact anyone in the corporate office, tried last week. It's a shame you can't even shop on-line for the VI stores, their website doesn't support any store pickup for VI.

Gallows Bay Hardware has expanded their housewares selection but it's still limited compared to a Target or even Kmart. Still looking for a good set of kitchen knives.

I agree about the knives, we will just bring our down in our luggage. I found it odd that the website wasn't conducive to purchasing there as well. They are definitely losing opportunity there. I hear that they were 20+ million dollar stores about 17 years ago, just before kmart went bankrupt, as I was considering going as I was single and it would have been a great move. But even back then, it was well known that the work ethic wasn't very good and they were hard stores to run due to that and logistics. Although I don't think you would have seen your district manager often due to expenses. Although corporate at the time liked to spend time there traveling.

Different times now. Yes a good knife set is hard to find. I could always bring down Cutco knives as they are made locally.

Both Kmarts on STX are always very busy whenever I've been there. Not a lot of competition other than each other, even with mail order. The sunny-isle store told me they send their out of season inventory to F-sted because they don't have room for it. I just read through the latest long lists of Sears and Kmart closings last week, so glad VI wasn't on the list. But if they don't get their act together soon and stop bleeding money they will all close. And then there will be an answer to the OPs question. Their customer service is lacking and you can't even contact anyone in the corporate office, tried last week. It's a shame you can't even shop on-line for the VI stores, their website doesn't support any store pickup for VI.

Gallows Bay Hardware has expanded their housewares selection but it's still limited compared to a Target or even Kmart. Still looking for a good set of kitchen knives.

I would like more information on the social/business environment- bringing an existing company, neither hospitality nor tourist based, into the area. Hurdles? Benefits?

As a small business owner, I would say that the government makes everything to do with owning and operating a business as difficult, cumbersome and costly as possible. Don't believe the Governor's BS about the VI being business-friendly. He's demonstrated, as most before him have, that the government wants to milk your business for all its worth. And, stay away from the EDC program. They want to dictate to you who to hire, how many to hire, when you can let them go among other edicts.

On the flip side, there is almost zero enforcement of anything and the government is so antiquated and porous that its easy to circumvent a lot of the red tape. It takes a few years to learn the system and find the work arounds. But, once you understand how it all works and how business get done, you'll be fine.