The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

Manufacturers of hurricane-resistant windows and doors yesterday said “the phone has not stopped ringing” on the first day they were permitted to conduct business following the COVID-19 lockdown.

Lilla Smith-Mosby, Bahamas Aluminum Manufacturing Company’s general manager, told Tribune Business: “We just opened and the phone has not stopped ringing. Everybody is trying to get estimates on shutters or placing an order for shutters and windows.”

Revealing that this pent-up demand could continue for another two months at this pace, she added: “We are fully stocked. We order twice a year, and our container came in a week before we closed in March.

“We’re excited to be back to work. We are trying to catch up on our orders that we had before we closed down, especially for Abaco. So we want to see those persons whose homes got destroyed with Hurricane Dorian. We’re trying to fulfill their orders so they could get back in before hurricane season starts, which is right around the corner.”

Ms Smith-Mosby added that the majority of Bahamas Aluminum Manufacturing Company’s business is with contractors in Nassau and Exuma.

Desmond Curling, general manager of C & S Steel & Building Supply Company, said: “I thought we were back to be fully reopened. I want this thing to be over with. One day doesn’t do much to help. We need to be fully opened. We have been doing the curbnside pick-up, but we just want this lockdown to be over with so we can get on with our lives.”