Barbados TravelAdvisor

[UKML]

From todays Nation http://www.nationnews.com/news/business/more-malls-on-the-way

Published on: 11/6/2009.


by YVETTE BEST

BARBADOS WILL have more than 150 new spots for “retail therapy” (shopping) by the end of next year.
The Lantern at Hastings, Christ Church, and the Limegrove Lifestyle Centre in Holetown, St James, will both be open in time for when countries should be recovering from the worldwide recession.
This is at a time when properties in the tourism sector have closed, projects have been halted, and some companies have sent home staff or reduced working hours.
Another change will come to the south coast landscape when the 32 shops in The Lantern at Hastings start business in February.
The much debated Subway chain will be housed in the new two-storey facility, which will have expanded coral stone parking for 130 vehicles.
Managing director Frederick George told the WEEKEND NATION The Lantern was a mall for the future and would be offering a more upscale service.
George said “substantial investment” had been made to get the type of upmarket facilities required.
“The money aspect is not the whole thing here . . . . We’re not holding back anything. It’s just increasing as it goes along. Every time we find there is a necessity to do better or to change this and that, we’re not holding back, we’re doing it. We do believe that Barbados is now at a stage where it needs to step up,” he explained.
George said the name Lantern would be borne out in the stainless steel glass and it would be “very highly lighted”.
He said The Lantern at Hastings would also serve to complement the “priceless structure” in the form of the boardwalk on the other side of the road. He said it served to motivate owners to improve their facilities.
Special glass to withstand 175-mile-per-hour hurricane force winds and reinforced walls to withstand earthquakes, heightened security that included uniformed personnel and CCTV were all part of the deal.
Come December next year, the spanking new Limegrove Lifestyle Centre is expected to be open in Holetown.
The retail end of the project will see 12 three- and four-storey buildings, housing 132 shops. International branded stores, bars, cafés, cinema, nightclub, gym, spa and car park for 350 are just some of the things in the lifestyle centre.
Limegrove Lifestyle Centre is one of the two elements of the project on the West Coast. The second is a residential area for 56 homes.

[oldphogey]

Love that retail therapy mixed with the smell of scorched plastic on a tropical island....Heaven!!