The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

GRAND Bahama Industrial Supplies has reached a ten-year milestone in Freeport, rebuilding its operation from scratch after suffering severe flood damage two years ago during Hurricane Dorian.

The company — located in the flood zone on Queens Highway — was under 10ft of water and lost more than 90 percent of its inventory, estimated at about $250,000.

Kenneth Knowles, operations manager, said the business continues to grow year after year, and there are plans for expansions in the future.

“We started as a small operation in a small space of 20x40, with just two persons, and over the years we have been able to grow from renting the space initially, to purchasing the entire property we are on now,” he said.

Mr Knowles said the company started by selling tools, welding supplies, and some industrial gases, but has since then branched off into appliances, housewares, fire extinguishers, safety tools, industrial gases, among other things.

In 2019, he recalled preparing for the coming of Dorian.

“We are in the flood zone and when a storm is coming, we would normally move all the items from our bottom shelves and put them up higher and into containers in the yard,” he explained.

He said Dorian was an unusual storm and they did not expect what had happened.

“We were watching the storm on Facebook, and someone posted a photo of the bus stop across from our business, and I could only see the top of the roof of the bus stop. I said, with that much water there is no chance we can save much of anything.”

After the storm passed and flood water receded, Mr Knowles and his staff discovered that the entire building and inventory was lost.

“It was no surprise, we had about 10ft of water and 95 percent of our inventory was under saltwater,” he recalled.

Although devastated, Mr Knowles said they decided to get to work after the insurance adjusters had completed assessments.

“We decided that we can’t sit around and cry about it, so we started throwing and pulling everything out of the store.”

Within a week, he said they were back in business with a temporary makeshift operation.

“We got a computer and the little items that were damaged but salvageable collected, we found a desk and chair, and a generator, got a makeshift office in our warehouse area, and started conducting business,” he said.

Mr Knowles said they sold the items at reduced cost to customers. “We found that a lot of the items customers needed after the hurricane,” he said.

Mr Knowles said that the next step was rebuilding. “We had to gut the entire building – we took out all the walls, everything, the metal shell on the outside, all the wiring; we basically were starting from scratch.

“We began healing and rebuilding five days after the hurricane had passed – we had a temporary operation going on and we estimated that about $250,000 worth of inventory was lost,” he said.

While many businesses were also affected by the COVID pandemic, GB Industrial Supplies was not negatively impacted, according to Mr Knowles.

He said that the business has always done well since its opening in December 2011.

“The interesting thing is that when we started the business, and as much as we hear people cry about Grand Bahama, for us in our business we have been able to increase our business every year since we have been in operation,” Mr Knowles said.

“Since the day we started to this day, we have been able to increase our sales.

“Despite the pandemic, it did not affect us in a negative way, other than the lockdowns because we also supply the hospital with medical gas. So that has been able to keep us going, and we have a lot of essential items.”

He indicated that there are plans for expansion.

“We are hoping to do some expansion, and at that point we will build higher. But with the existing building, we cannot build up or move it any higher, so we hope we do not have another hurricane like Dorian anytime soon.”

Mr Knowles said the company is grateful to the Grand Bahama community.

“We appreciate all the support that the Grand Bahama community has given us, and we are planning a customer appreciation celebration,” he said.