For more than a decade, the Bahamian Brewery and Beverage Company Limited (BBB) has redefined the beer business in The Bahamas. Since launching in 2008, the company has become known throughout the islands for its signature products brewed in Grand Bahama like Sands, Sands Light, and Sands Pink Radler along with their Bush Crack, High Rock lager, Strong Back stout, Triple B malt and the newest, Sands Passion Radler.

When the company opened its flagship retail store in Grand Bahama, Jimmy’s Wines and Spirits, it was primarily designed to bring those brands to its customers and help promote sales. This proved to be another asset for this growing company. Jimmy’s carries one of the largest inventories of wines and spirits in the country. Additionally, Jimmy’s now boasts eight distribution centers in New Providence, North Eleuthera, Freeport, and Marsh Harbour, Abaco. Along with its locally produced beer, Jimmy’s is the distributor for Anheuser-Busch and Philip Morris International products, as well as many leading brands such as Tito’s vodka, Macallan whiskey, and Jackson Family Wines.

Within its short ten years in business, Bahamian Brewery has seen its trade and the retail business through Jimmy’s Wines and Spirits grow by leaps and bounds. In response to that growth, the company has moved to a new warehouse and office space located in the heart of the capital’s Airport Industrial Park. BBB hired exclusively local contractors to perform the refurbishment, including TMC Engineering who replaced the roof with their Star Building quality metal product. The new site also houses their Nassau corporate office.

With thirty thousand square feet of warehouse space, the company is positioning itself to increase its product volumes, giving customers greater access to even more brands, and allowing the staff to service its growing customer base. The new warehouse has a refrigerated drive-in zone to accommodate the company’s wide selection of wine and tobacco products. The move has also prompted the company to grow its core team, with six additional staff members hired for the warehouse.

“The larger warehouse is really a dream,” exclaimed Jimmy’s Warehouse Manager Bryan Thurston. “Having the space to carry more inventory will allow us to better meet our customer’s demands in both the breadth of products they order and delivery time.”

Spread across nearly three acres of land, the new warehouse space sits a stones-throw away from the fast-growing western community in New Providence, which the Sands family intend to service with a ninth Jimmy’s Wines and Spirits location, looking to open in late summer. “Since the very beginning, our mission has been to provide our customers with great products and experiences. Thanks to the support of our loyal customers over the last ten-plus years, we have been able to outgrow our current premises and need larger facilities,” said General Manager of Bahamian Brewery, Gary Sands. “With this expansion, we hope to improve the quality of service we can give them in return.”

Despite the relocation of their distribution center, the "Bottle Return Depot' will remain at The Nassau Street Facility, acting as the hub for The Brewery's recycling initiative. Due to its centralized location, it will continue to serve the public in the interest of convenience and easy access. The operational hours for Bottle Returns Depot are Monday through Friday from 8 am to noon. “We are glad to keep that connection to the community alive as it demonstrates our core value of being 'Truly Bahamian'. We truly appreciate your support and would like to extend a sincere thank you on behalf of the Bahamian Brewery Family,” noted Nathanial Middleton, Manager of the Nassau Street operation.

The Bahamian Brewery and beverage company currently collects about 50% of the beer bottles they sell but they expect that percentage to increase. This July they expanded the bottle buy-back program to Abaco. By doing this they are able to reduce waste going to the landfill, create micro-economies, and offer customers a better price since they don’t have to import a new bottle for every new beer bottled at The Brewery.

With thirty thousand square feet of warehouse space, the company is positioning itself to increase its product volumes, giving customers greater access to even more brands, and allowing the staff to service its growing customer base.

Members of the Brewery's warehouse team work diligently to prepare customer orders at the new warehouse facility in the Airport Industrial Park.

The Sands family intend to service with a ninth Jimmy’s Wines and Spirits location, looking to open in late summer.

 

The Brewery Warehouse Crew pose for a quick photo opp before starting their daily deliveries. The expansion to its new warehouse space also facilitated the hire of 6 additional staff members.

General Manager Gary Sands poses alongside some of the brewery's most popular brands now housed in its newly commissioned warehouse space.

(Photo courtesy of Ronnie Archer for Barefoot Marketing)