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stt007
Hope go ends closing doesn't have negative impact on the stx store's future.

What's a "go ends"?

It's probably hovensa "corrected" by the iPhone/iPad autocorrect

Sorry not misinformed, Fact. I am a member of the Chamber, Have owned my business over 20yrs on STT, & have many political associates. I was there when the fight was on about home depot coming to STT. Why would a big box come to a little island such as STT & close 6 in PR within 2yrs???? We do not all pay the same taxes FACT they have a lot of exemptions for a 99yr lease guarantee. They buy some of the same products at the same prices from the same suppliers from the same reps, then use them as a lost leader. i.e They buy silicon for $4.37ea they sell it for the same as the purchased it for not even landed cost & when on sale its $2.00. I have met the purchaser for HD many times in MY STORE!!!! so when you want to talk about FACTS you let me know.

All is now clear.

Let's all remember that Home Depot is a business, they are here to take your money, though it may be less than the local stores. Business is business, and dollars are dollars, and profit is profit.

I took a drive around the backside of Home Depot on STX, and had the opportunity to speak with a worker about the solar panel "farm" I saw. Home Depot did it right: they put in solar panels to run 60% of the store, so I am told. That means that the profit they make is even greater because they are not forking over huge amounts of wasted dollars to WAPA.

My complaint/concern is, if they know it's the best way to go down here, why are they not selling the same options to the locals? They could make even more money of they offered to the people what they are using to avoid WAPA.

They learned from the STT store.

The solar panels can only be considered experimental at best. The most efficient solar panels in the world are only 28% efficient. And that's under perfect conditions (direct sunlight, no clouds, midday). They lose another 20% off that efficiency when the power is sent through an inverter so that it can be regulated and maintained at line voltage. The cost outlay to install them is so high that they won't pay for themselves for anywhere from 4 to 10 years depending on many factors. By then maintenance and replacement becomes an issue. The slightest film buildup on the glass significantly reduces the efficiency so I would guess in your salty air that they must employ someone full time just to keep them clean. The cost to insure them is high because they are so fragile and so expensive. It's a great technology but not nearly advanced enough at this point to use for purposes other than locations with no other source of power. Home Depot may see a reduction of their electric bill but they are just redirecting the same money saved into the cost and maintenance of the solar farm. Which, by the way, is probably still money spent locally and at least not going into WAPA's pockets. lol

We don't have any say in how they run their business...they've been doing it for a long time, very successfully. Our business is to welcome them and enjoy what they offer, and to tax them modestly to pay for the costs they incur to the territory. Their success is our success, and their failure would be our failure. Letting Virgin Islanders run the company would lead to yet another WAPA/Innovative disaster with outdated crappy service and high prices.

The concept of a loss-leader is a proven technique that any successful retail business will use to get people in the store. Growing up I worked for a hardware store which sold lawn mowers at cost. This brought people in like crazy. Along with their lawn mowers people bought gas cans, blades and so on at a good profit. That's how business works.

If HD wants to sell silicone for less than they pay for it, great! Buy all you need, don't be bawling about the low price. If you want to pay more for it, then go to the competition.

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skylineent06
Sorry not misinformed, Fact. I am a member of the Chamber, Have owned my business over 20yrs on STT, & have many political associates. I was there when the fight was on about home depot coming to STT. Why would a big box come to a little island such as STT & close 6 in PR within 2yrs???? We do not all pay the same taxes FACT they have a lot of exemptions for a 99yr lease guarantee. They buy some of the same products at the same prices from the same suppliers from the same reps, then use them as a lost leader. i.e They buy silicon for $4.37ea they sell it for the same as the purchased it for not even landed cost & when on sale its $2.00. I have met the purchaser for HD many times in MY STORE!!!! so when you want to talk about FACTS you let me know.

Oh I see, you own your own small business so you completely understand the inner workings of the supply chain of a huge multimillion dollar corporation. Makes perfect sense.

Why would a big box open a store on STT and close stores in PR? For the obvious reason that it financially makes sense. OfficeMax opened the STX store here and two on PR during the same time period they were shuttering 100+ on the mainland. Reason? Corporate greed oh no wait, it was because there is no competition here. The average Omax on the mainland might do $3000 in sales on a sunday in 9 hours where the STT store will do $40k in 6. Drive up to a big box store in populated areas of the mainland and you'll pass 3 of their competitors first. I realize all businesses don't pay the same taxes, but to insinuate that your small business is more of a boon to the local economy than HD is just absurd. I'm willing to bet STT OMX pays more in GRT per year than you pay in all taxes combined. And further, I think it's insane that you believe small business owners here have the same supply chain as HD and have the same purchasing power with them. You sound like every other bitter small business owner competing with a big box that I've ever talked to and it smells like a big mound of crap. SunnyCaribe seems to be much more in tune with reality than you.

First off, I'm not bitter in any way. Since HD has been on STT Business has been better because locals & others including HD Corp Managers realize that Bigger doesn't always mean BETTER!!!! All the hardware stores on STT has more buying power than HD by far cause our buying groups are a lot larger than HD. Give me a break. AS SAID BEFORE "FACT IS FACT". ie. M.S.I. Is an ACE HARDWARE STORE how many ACE are there in the world compared to HD Hmmm. EAST END LUMBER is a Do It Best Store Hmmm Need I go on About Steel Plus. Point there are much larger buying groups on the island that have been here much longer. HD GRT & others in comparison % wise don't make sense cause we still pay about the same or more %wise. By the way next time you decide to respond make sure U look up tax info. We are all MULTIMILLION DOLL ER CORPS.

"All the hardware stores on STT has more buying power than HD by far cause"

That's all I need to see to understand that you are completely out of touch with reality. They don't have the same supply chains, they don't have the same competition. ACE is dying a slow death in the states, OfficeMax is dying a slow death in the states, Kmart is dying a slow death in the states. They are alive and well here because of the lack of competition. This is why they close stores en mass there but do fine here.

Maybe this link will help in determining where the buying power is:

Home Depot Annual Report

67 BILLION dollars in net sales for the year 2010. Maybe you should show us your balance sheet for 2010 so we could see that you are as FACTually correct as you claim. The entire GDP for all US Virgin Islands combined was estimated at 1.6 BILLION in 2004. If you and your buying groups are purchasing more than 67 billion, then you are not reporting it on your taxes. Shame, shame, shame!

I'm going out on a limb here and making up numbers but I would guess that if your local Home Depot even pays 2% in taxes, it would still be a greater amount paid to the government than if your company paid 20%. Tax breaks, when shown as a percentage, are very deceiving. Just because it's a lower percentage does not mean it is less money. And what usually happens is the government offers a great deal in the beginning for a very specific amount of time and then sticks it to them when that time expires because they know the company doesn't want to leave if it is profitable. This sticking it to them later approach is one of the biggest reasons for a lot of store and plant closings. It's not always that the store wasn't doing well but that some local government gets greedy.