St. David’s wants a new supermarket, Survey shows
Residents of St David’s and visitors to the island have appealed for a supermarket to fill a major gap in the area.
Almost a fifth of people who responded to a survey about the area said that the lack of somewhere to buy groceries was their biggest dislike.
But they highlighted peace and quiet and the beaches as favourite aspects of life in St David’s.
The survey was carried out by the Bermuda Land Development Company with the Department of Planning as part of work to create a community plan for the island.
The survey asked residents and visitors to St David’s to contribute ideas on “the future vision for St David’s and to identify what amenities and services they would like to see in the St David’s area”.
Andrew Dias, the head of the BLDC, said that a supermarket topped the wish list, but it would be several months before a draft plan was completed.
The area had a supermarket at Southside until 2012, when the White & Sons chain collapsed.
St David’s lost the supermarket, pharmacy and ATM when the East End supermarket on the former US base lands closed.
Mr Dias said that St George’s already had an “excellent” supermarket in Somers on York Street in the Olde Towne – but he admitted it was comparatively small.
He added: “There is no large store in the whole parish where people can park outside and go in to get their groceries in that large a space.
“The first stage is to get all the research and community input.
“However what we are doing is posting the results as we do different surveys. We did the first part – there were things identified that the community felt were missing.
“To do the second survey we will get more detail and ask people, if we were to have this, where would it be?”
Mr Dias estimated that the process would wrap up this May and that nothing was guaranteed.
The survey is now closed.
A BLDC statement said: “While a number of these recommendations have no doubt been raised previously, these community survey results do shine a clear light on what the community considers to be most important at the current time, and help to establish a framework for discussion and action.
“One of the main recommendations garnered from the St David’s community survey is the community’s desire for a new grocery store and associated services such as an ATM and pharmacy.
“This recommendation has been identified as a priority action item which warrants further research and assessment.
“To gain a more detailed understanding of the community’s needs, a follow-up St David’s grocery store survey will be conducted.
“This survey will ask questions related to where the St David’s community currently shops for groceries, how often they are likely to shop at a new grocery store if one were located in St David’s, and which sites in St David’s they prefer for a possible new grocery store.“