questions for islanders

vegi gardens grow well on stx
read the board for info on cost of good, crime and the economy. after you read those come back and ask more questions about opening a business, also read the posts about busines closing and look for the reason they are closing.

i would like a target, del taco and a joanne fabric store.

Good day to you all!
My husband and I, like so many are dreaming of moving to an island and USVI is at the top of our list. Could you please answer a few questions for me?
-Do people have any success with vegetable gardens? If so, what are you growing?
-For those who have started a business, was it easy or quite challenging?
-What sort of businesses would you like to see come to which island?
Thanks for your help. I appreciate it.

Reading this board will scare you away.

Disregard anyone who wants to concentrate on crime statistics. Yes we have murders and robberies here. However, our friendly statisticians like to say that we have "the highest murder rate per capita in the entire universe".:-o Well, the state of Florida, along with quite a few others, do not count homicides perpetrated as "stand your ground" incidents in the stats...for example, Florida has 400 murders that are not counted because of this law. Technically, Treyvon Martin was not murdered.

The majority of murders here are by wannabe "gangsters" offing each other, or close family members offing each other. I have said this numerous times and been castigated for saying it, but nobody has proven me wrong.

If the large Palestinian community here had been scared off by blood-curdling stories about "per capita murder rate" that community would not currently own most of the gas stations, supermarkets, furniture stores, and clothing stores on St. Croix. They don't scare easily, like a lot of people.

There are five F's...Food, Furniture, Fuel, Finances, Fashion. The Palestinian Community is firmly in control of four of those, because they are not scared...and they work hard, and take care of their own.

Try to cultivate a few local friends via Facebook or other social media, preferably people who actually live and work here as normal, everyday folk with jobs, kids in school, etc. Ask them to give you info about local farming (big on St. Croix), jobs, and the local economy.

Basically, Friend someone on Facebook who lives here and use that as a gateway to get to know more locals. Do NOT let this board be the only influence on your decision...get a second, third, fourth opinion from people who live and work here in local communities and have never heard of vimovingcenter.

If you can, come visit for a few weeks and stay with a local family (or at least hang out with one).

We do not need a Target or a Taco whatever. Fast food is unhealthy, and large, big box stores are fast becoming dinosaurs as shopping shifts to the Internet. We would like to see a return to Mom and Pop operations that provide incentives for entrepreneurs as opposed to big box stores putting small businesses out of business. Anyone who supports big box stores like Target and WalMart with all the stuff "made in China" should not complain about the state of the economy, IMHO.

If you eat natural foods that are native to the place where you are, you can live healthy and keep your costs down. If you have developed a taste for strawberries, for example, well those are not native to St. Croix. You can expect to pay a premium for strawberries here, just as you would expect to pay a premium for a grafted mango in California. As long as we continue to depend on big box stores shipping everything in we can expect to pay higher prices.

You can get whatever you want online, and if the business won't ship here (because of NAFTA and our designation as Latin America, thank you Bill Clinton) we just have stuff sent to VI Cargo in Florida.

I have friends who eat entirely out of stuff grown in their yards...these are the people you need to hook up with, not the apocalyptic doomsayers on this board.

As a prospective USVI immigrant, I want to personally thank you, JahRustyFerrari, for posting this. I've not been scared away by this board because I take it with a grain of salt. But it's nice to hear someone counter the arguments here.

As a prospective USVI immigrant, I want to personally thank you, JahRustyFerrari, for posting this. I've not been scared away by this board because I take it with a grain of salt. But it's nice to hear someone counter the arguments here.

You're most welcome 😀

jah, thats Del Taco. and you focused on the crime, i specifically mentioned cost of goods and the economy as well and i did not mention any specifics, just let the poster know to read the board.
also, i know fast food is unhealthy, i might eat it twice a year. so what. and Target, I love their housewares department and they do not ship here. but stores like walmart and target in the states have better prices on toiletries and household cleaners. so yeah , they would be nice.

jas, does it matter that they are "wanna be gangsters" kiling each other, they are still murders. you make it sound like they don't matter. everyone that gets killed leaves behind a loved one

My advice is as always to go to the top of this page and then read everything from left to right, "Home" to "Message Board" which will take you a while but give you a ton of information and answers to questions that you may not even have thought of asking.

Yes, setting up a business here is an arduous, time consuming and very frustrating procedure and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who hasn't lived here for at least a year or two. The best way to go about it is work for someone else and see what really goers on behind the scenes before making a decision to go it on your own.

It doesn't really matter what businesses people want to come here. I can't think of one business that someone hasn't mentioned on this forum in response to the same question which hasn't already been here and gone. You CAN find a niche here and make a reasonable success of a business but it's best to get the lay of the land before jumping in.

And yes, you can grow veggies here but if you're just used to popping things in the ground and watching them grow you'll find it's not quite the same as you're used to. STT and STJ are volcanic and have a very limited topsoil. Raised beds work best and then you need to fence them in to protect them from iguanas and also use shade netting both again the direct sun and the onslaught of the trashy birds, particularly if you're growing such as tomatoes which they love. There are several good gardening threads on this forum which you can find by using the search engine.

Happy reading and good luck!

jas, does it matter that they are "wanna be gangsters" kiling each other, they are still murders. you make it sound like they don't matter. everyone that gets killed leaves behind a loved one

You're absolutely right...don't mean to sound like it doesn't matter.

Best advice I could give is to work for someone else before making the decision to open a business. There are many, many ins and outs of business ownership, heck, even of living in the USVI, that you need to experience first hand. I would give living here AT LEAST a year before trying to open a business.

jas, does it matter that they are "wanna be gangsters" kiling each other, they are still murders. you make it sound like they don't matter. everyone that gets killed leaves behind a loved one

Yeah, and those wanna-be-gangsters are often your neighbors, too. Crossfire at Condo Row (generally considered safe) was common from drivebys and from the projects across the street when I lived there. And that poor 15 year-old celebrating her Quinceanera who got -- literally -- caught in wanna-be-gangster crossfire on STT.

My house was also robbed by wanna-be-gangsters. They shot at my neighbor and his toddler.

My car was broken into by wanna-be-gangsters who trashed it, despite being parked in one of the most expensive neighborhoods on STX.

Nah. The wanna be gangster violence doesn't affect us non-wanna-be-gangsters at all.

ETA: correct spelling of Quinceanera

Sure, there's lots of murder, but there's lots of great farms and gardens here too.

It's not heaven, it's just paradise.

hiknfool, I've sent you a Private Message:-)

If they are killing each other and are members of gangs, haven't they gone beyond "wanna-be?"

hey now! I think our gangsters deserve a little bit more credit
its not easy being a gangsta these days...

keep hope alive!

I love how everybody jumped to the defense of our island gangsters validity. haha

Wouldn't that be "gangsta dem"? 😀

[ducking and running]

Bob