The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

A Fort Lauderdale-based logistics provider, which has been offering concierge services to Bahamian businesses and residents for more than a decade, is aiming to expand its service offering.

Acompany executive told Tribune Business yesterday that it had established a niche as a “personal shopper service” by leveraging longstanding relationships with numerous US-based suppliers.

Buddy Olen, a partner in Windridge-Olen Exports, told Tribune Business he was looking to expand on his personal shopper service that has been operating for private clients for about 12 years.

“What I’ve been doing started about 12 years ago. I got a hold of a couple of clients in Nassau that have asked me to bring things for them because I am very well versed with Customs and Immigration, and the paperwork,” Mr Olen said.

“I’m a pilot and we bring things over on cargo planes. People are always asking for things but can’t get them because they are either out of stock or they are just so expensive in the Bahamas.

“If they want it I get it for them, clear Customs and deal with all the paperwork. I’m now looking to expand into various other things,” added Mr Olen, who is also a legal resident in the Bahamas with extensive property holdings and investments.

“Besides finding things that are difficult to find, it’s being able to say somebody needs something,” he said. “They don’t have to get on a plane; they pick up the phone or send an e-mail and I can get whatever it is. The normal is done right away; the impossible takes an hour or two.”

Mr Olen said he has offered service to clients in Ocean Club and Lyford Cay. Windridge-Olen Exports markets itself as as an “exclusive concierge service” for businesses and individuals alike in the Bahamas.

“We have access to food products, food services, equipment, restaurant equipment. There are great prices. We can get things for being a contractor, pilot, coast guard boat caption. I have access to very good prices for just about anything,” Mr Olen said.

“There are companies that do similar things, but it’s the shopping side that I have got a big niche in because I know where to find things, how to get them and how to get them quickly.”