New Western Union outlet opens in One Stop Mall
Speaking on the opening was businesswoman Suzanne K. Rhymer, who explained the long process that it took for them to be approved as a branch of the popular money transfer agency.
“Western Union was actually in Tortola looking for places to have office space and branches and it so happened that I met the person concerned and spoke with her and that’s how the idea came about,” she told this news site in an exclusive interview.
“I thought if it and said that we have a nice little space that we could transform for that. The person came down to see the place and she liked it and it birthed from there,” added Rhymer.
She said that it took about a year and a half for the site to get all of its approval from the time of the first interaction to the day of the opening.
“Lots of paperwork had to be approved by the Financial Services Commission (FSC),” she said. The other new branch is located at Tortola General Stores in Port Purcell.
Rhymer said she is hoping that the new branch in her establishment will alleviate the long lines usually associated with the Western Union at the Palm Grove Shopping Centre.
She said Western Union is all about customer service and getting their customers attended to in the fastest and most accurate way. With this in mind, she is open to adding more teller windows to the two that the outlet now has to speed up turnaround times for Western Union customers.
One stop experience
In addition to this, Rhymer wants her customers to have a total ‘one stop’ experience where they can patronise the many businesses located within the One Stop Mall.
“We are hoping that customers come in and they do everything they need all at once... if they need to send out money or receive money and also get a haircut or a drink or something to eat,” she said. Rhymer said that the establishment of the new branch signals the need for Western Union to remain competitive in the face of ever growing competition.
The VI is a 'cash cow' of the Caribbean
“The BVI is a cash outbound destination. Money is sent out more than in and if Western Union wants to compete then they had to up their game,” she said. “The BVI is a cash cow in the Caribbean... you have to call it what it is.”
She has assured customers that all of the facilities that they benefit from at the Palm Grove Shopping Centre will be available at the One Stop Mall location.
“We are also in dialogue with Western Union to set up bill payment services where you can pay all your utility bills in one place and that is something that Western Union is looking into,” she said.
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19 Responses to “New Western Union outlet opens in One Stop Mall ”
Though remittances play a vital role in the economies of receiving countries and create business opportunities for West Union and other wire transfer businesses, it has an impact on the local economy. Remittances takes money out of the local economy. Every dollar spent locally creates a multiplier effect in the economy. Thus, remittance leakage impacts the local economy. What can be done to keep more remittance dollars locally? Nothing. Migration occurs mostly for economic reasons to support individuals and their families. It has occurred throughout the history of the Caribbean, including the Virgin Islands. This is not a knock on VI residents wiring money home to their families. Just keeping it real and putting things in perspective . Remittances are on one side of the equation and on the other side are real estate rental( homes, apartments), retail stores cudtomer base, other businesses.....etc.
Regional immigration/emigration occurs in "hot spot" areas. Regional workers have always migrated, i.e., Panama Canal, UK, US, Canada, Santo Domingo and USVI. Now, the VI/BVI is the "hot spot." Thumbs up to Ms. Rhymer on her business endeavor.
On the remittance related topic, E. Leonard is on point with remittances increasing demand for wire services. Remittances may not be big in the BVI, but it is an factor in most regional countries. The average dollar value of Caribbean and Latiin America is $66B with the Caribbean take equaling approx $8B. With a large expat population, there is a great need for wire services.
Parking is a problem in Road Town so we should make every effort to lessen the demand for parking in Road Town, i.e., siting businesses. outside the city. Siting this WE outside of Town probably would not decrease its market share and would have improve the quality and level of service. Moreover, parking is an urgent need and government must act quickly to maximize and increase the number of parking spaces in Road. There is little opportunity to increase parking horizontal so the only option is to go vertical ( parking garages). Additionally, some parking meters during normal business hours would maximize the use of scarce parking places.
The effort of traveling to road town for such transaction is pretty unnecessary.
Also the electricity office need to reopen in East End. We have a large population and its time more development start taking place there.
Hope this idea will be considered ASAP.