Reflections moves to distribute liquor

Retailer Reflections is to start distributing liquor. 

The as yet unnamed new company has already been approached by liquor manufacturers looking for a foothold in the Caymanian market, said Prentice Panton. 

“We are going to focus on what we are good at: level of service and the price point of driving prices down. 

“This has served us well in clothes, electronics and retail alcohol and now we intend to provide a service to package, restaurants and bars. We have the trucks, the warehouse space and the inventory so all is in place to service the community,” he said. 

Opening doors 

Mr. Panton noted that the increasing costs of doing business in the Cayman Islands has led to price increases across the board. In order to beat the squeeze, establishments were striving to attain a better wholesale price.  

“Brands want to realise their margins without increasing the cost of drink; people have less disposable income these days. 

“We have spoken to brands from the UK, the United States and South America. Some are currently here, some are new brands. This licence enables us to open doors for brands which are currently being under serviced or under marketed,” he added. 

Mr. Panton’s brother, Stanley, said there was a danger of retailers stocking two competing brands from separate manufacturers, merely to stop other distributors having them. 

“I am not knocking anybody’s business. But we have been approached to move brands from current distributors, We will look at it, if it’s not in conflict with the brands we are going to stock.” 

Successful application 

At the annual meeting of the Liquor Licensing Board of Grand Cayman held on Thursday, 22 September, Prentice E. Panton successfully applied to change the distributor licence previously held by Lyle Hill. 

Mr. Panton explained that Mr. Hill had suffered health and some financial difficulties and after discussions they had come up with a transfer agreement, 

Many people, said Mr. Panton, had been feeling the pressure of the bigger distributors, of which there were a limited number. He said he felt that it was possible to offer a service to independents. 

Also at the meeting, a request to extend hours to 10pm at the Reflections Liquor 4 Less retail stores had been deferred due to the board’s decision to hold on any new extension applications, which it said was related to crime issues.