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I am looking to get in contact w/ retailers in Charlotte Amalie in order to see if they would be interested in a few products I have to offer to the "tourist" shoppers. (wholesale)
Can anyone give me a good way to get in contact w/those retailers?
I plan on being there end of December and January, but if I could have some "contacts" ahead of time to set up meetings, etc. that would be great. (any local associations that "list" retail owners?)
Also, I wonder the availability of renting a "kiosk" type location in the shopping area, perhaps as small as a 6 X 6 area in an existing shop. I would need to have access to electric and phone line in which to process CC transactions.
I am planning on spending most of January in St. Thomas. (with a couple college age kids who could "run" the kiosk business) to basically run a "test market" for this business.
Any ideas, suggestions and housing help would be great. (I did read that most suggestions are for "get here, then find housing")Thanks!
Posted : December 4, 2005 6:17 pm
http://www.yellowpages-caribbean.com/Countries/USVI/index.cfm
The above link is for the Online Yellow pages of St.Thomas. Perhaps this would be an easy and most efficient way for you to locate those stores/shops that would be the best match or compliment to whatever products you are hoping to sell - providing you with names and phone numbers.
Good luck.
Posted : December 5, 2005 1:21 pm
Hello Sheela,
I'd say get some handouts together, samples and come down. Pick a day with few to no ships in port... when ships are in port the store owners and managers won't give you the time of day as they are busy selling and helping customers. Introduce your products then call to follow up. You’d likely cover the most ground this way.
You can definitely try calling, faxing information ahead of time. Again if you are calling check the cruise schedule for a slow day if you hope for someone in management to stop and talk to you. Havensight Shopping area has a website at http://www.shopvi.com/.
As for shop space: Havensight doesn't have kiosks. Next door is Port of Sale, also no kiosk except for a little bar. Accross from Havensight in Al Cohens there are a couple shops that have some table/kiosk type spots within them. Downtown Charlotte Amalie there is Vendors Plaza where folks set up tables, tents with products - there is a waiting list for spots. A few of the alleys downtown have kiosk - Palm Passage has one or two and International Plaza has a few - not sure either offer phone lines -I remember a friend saying he made an arrangement with one of the stores to run his charges for him for a fee (plus the processing fee). Or you could do hard copy and get a cell phone and call in your credit card sales for approval (time consuming I know). Also there are shops in Red Hook and in some Resorts you could look into. For licensing information for your business visit http://www.dlca.gov.vi/index.htm.
Also Crown Bay has the new shopping/dock project - you could look into rental space there http://www.viport.com/. And for the future you could look into the Yacht Haven Marina project http://www.yachthavengrande.com/.
--Islander
Posted : December 7, 2005 6:30 pm
