Since everyone wanted more on the Spanish Town experience I thought I’d share something cool I saw there. My ghetto boys are opening a shop! I don’t know how great this will be for you but for me I was really proud of them! It shows a lot of motivation in these tough economic times.
Before we got to Spanish Town one of them had told me about this game shop that he was going to open and kept mentioning a “container” that they had. I didn’t really get what he was saying so he said he’d show me when we got to Spanish Town. The next day when we got there we went for a walk over to GC Foster College and there it was….the container. NOW I know what they meant….it looked pretty much like a car from a freight train. Jamaica’s weird LOL.
They’ve been leasing this space for about a year while they painstakingly build and renovate the inside. Its been taking them so long because of course, money is an issue. It takes money to make money so they’re doing a little at a time on the inside. When they opened the door I could see the brand new carpentry going in, they’ve built a store front of shelving inside which is still incomplete.
They told me this is a joint venture between all the brothers, they all have a little piece of it together. They lease this container and actually a lot of land surrounding it. The combined idea is to sell food and drink in the front part of the shop and there’s a space at one end where they’ll have a game shop….people come in and pay to play video games. Apparently this kind of stuff flies there because people can’t afford to own game systems of their own.
If you know anything about Jamaica you would know that practically ANYTHING can be made into a business with little effort. In my opinion this idea is pretty genious because the shop is located directly across the street from GC Foster College which is full of students who will spend money eating and game playing! So I asked them what’s their major obstacle right now and they of course, said money. They need to finish the carpentry and want to lay some tile on the floor. And for the games portion of the shop they need the game systems and TV’s. That spawned my first bright idea…..the X-Box and 50 or so games that have been collecting dust in my house for years. I immediately told them they could have it. And actually just today, it should be arriving in their hands via a good friend of mine who just left for Jamaica. I’m SOOO exicted for them to get it! As for the rest of the shop I’ll be phoning one of the brothers this weekend to find out what kind of progress they’re making.
And the last cool things about this spot….since they have a good portion of land surrounding the shop, in the future they want to put a car wash on one side and hold street parties there occasionally. Again, if you knew anything about Jamaica you’d know they’re CRAZY about keeping their cars clean and they’re always looking for a good street dance!
You go boys!!!! Â I’ll post updates and grand opening news down the road!
Comments
10 responses to “Spanish Town Game Shop”
wicked post… I love it.
Great post!! Good to know that the boys are doing well and have heeded the cardinal rule… for building a house or starting a business… location, location and location!
I wasn’t aware that Jamaicans are crazy about keeping their cars clean… here in India… most people clean their cars 10 or 20 times a day… if the car is a brand new one (which includes newly acquired second hand/used/pre-owned cars too!!) People even hesitate to drive them on the roads… but once they muster up the courage and do it… the result is usually a scratch mark on the car… thereafter all the washing and cleaning flies out of the window or the nearest door!!!
And to think that both India and Jamaica are ‘colonial cousins’ (!!!)… and that Christopher Columbus arrived at the island of Jamaica in 1494 on May 4 (some say May 5), then went to the Bahamas and called these islands ‘the Indies’ because he thought he had finally reached Asia and the East Indies or India!!! But ended up ‘discovering’ America instead!!!
Thanks for the info and the compliment!
I am quite flattered… but… its just that we have to read tons of history, apart from civics, geography, maths (God! how I hated the Paper 1 and calculus and integration), physics, chemistry, biology (all with practicals/lab work), economics, languages, moral science, communication and something that goes by the name of S.U.P.W. or ‘Socially Useful Project Work’… to get through school. Really TONS of history!!!
Infact, school kids in India are all ‘pocket-sized weight lifters’and pretty good gymnasts too… !! I guess, if one has to manoeuvre the Indian roads with its rush hour traffic while carrying a heavy bag on their shoulders… they got to. It is another matter that India never wins any olympic medals in either gymnastics or weight lifting… which is kinda the 8th wonder of the world!!!
East India would be the states of West Bengal and maybe Orissa. The Bengalis (folks from West Bengal… including yours truely) have a ‘reputation’ to protect. They can be very successful ‘managers’ of other people’s business(es) but ‘cannot’ run their own business at all. The ‘Indians’ running their own business in Jamaica are very likely from the south of India.
As I have mentioned earlier… both India and Jamaica are ‘colonial cousins’… were colonized by the British for many years. The British were notorious for taking ‘slaves’… bonded labours who were chained and kept in inhuman conditions and made to work in even more inhuman conditions… and this was hereditary… from their (now erstwhile) ‘colonies’ – the Indian subcontinent, Africa, etc. These ‘Indians’ in Jamaica are most likely the descendents of these folks who were taken as ‘slaves’.
Even the southern states of the US of A were notorious for having ‘slaves’ from these erstwhile British colonies. President Abraham Lincoln… who ended the Civil War in the United States… abolished slavery. He was assassinated… no prizes for guessing who did that, though!!!
Even, the most ‘powerful’ man on this planet and the current occupant of the most expensive piece of real estate in the US of A too may have ancestors who were bought as ‘slaves’… its another matter though.. that today he is being ‘hailed’ as the first Black President… if he screws up… which is most likely… he’ll be referred to as ‘half white’… !!!
I enjoy reading your blogs… they are info-rich. Please keep up the good work.
The beautifully painted and cleaned up interior of a shipping container was actually very interesting. I’ve seen inside many small shops in JA but they were all built of wood, cement, old doors, or scraps of zinc. The store also doesn’t look “thrown together” as many do; look at the quality of craftsmanship in the cabinetry!
I hope you’ll post finished pictures later, so I can spam those too. 😛
How innovative. They are surely business minded and not just having something that is shacky but appealing. They have planned it well. Don’t forget to post pictures whenever they get through. I like how they plan to make money in different ways that I think will surely work. I wish your friends the best of luck.
Hey Ginger I went back to this shop last week to check the progress. Will post an update in a little while. The shop is all painted now and is almost ready to open. They sure take a long time getting things done down there LOL!
Smh @ u calling them ur ghetto boys…..
LOL they called themselves that.