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Entrepreneur’s supply cut-off cost Atlantis and Baha Mar retail deals BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A BAHAMAS-based entrepreneur has launched legal action against his US distributor after it allegedly cost him an opportunity to do business with retail outlets in Atlantis and Baha Mar, plus the Sandals resort chain, by arbitrarily cutting-off product supplies. Laurence Smith-Taylor and Walk Good Bahamas, in a March 30, 2026, legal claim filed in the central California federal court, alleged that - after a painstaking eight-year effort - they were finally poised to do business with ITS Group, a Bahamian retail chain that operates 11 different outlets in Atlantis and Baha Mar, only for Alpargatas USA to halt all deliveries of its footwear products. Besides leaving them unable to fulfill the ITS Group order, which had already been placed, Mr Smith-Taylor and Walk Good Bahamas also claimed that - apart from “losing smaller retailers and other major hotel groups” - Alpargatas’ decision to cease supplying product also threatened a deal to create a ‘store within a store’ concept at Sandals. As a result, they are demanding that the California court order that their US supplier pay them unspecified damages for breach of contract; breach of fiduciary duty; breach of good faith and fair dealing;
Product loss blew eight-year push with Bahamas retail group And purportedly halted ‘store in store’ Sandals arrangement Bahamas-based firm seeking damages in California courts fraudulent inducement; and interference with business relationships over the commercial opportunities that have allegedly been lost through the termination of product supplies with no warning or explanation. Alpargatas USA is the US distributor for the Brazilian footwear brand of the same name, which specialises in producing canvas and cotton shoes. Its main brand is Havaianas, one of the largest Brazilian labels for rubber flip-flops that was introduced in 1962, with other Alpargatas products including handbags, shoes and sneakers. Tribune Business efforts to track down and contact Mr Smith-Taylor proved fruitless. The contact numbers listed online for Havaianas Bahamas and Walk Good Caribbean, to which
Google and other searches for ‘Walk Good Bahamas’ were directed, did not work while the website was also non-functional. The California lawsuit, though, names Walk Good Bahamas as a company incorporated in this jurisdiction with its “principal place of business” at No.2 Ivanhoe Road. That is a location just north of the drive-through for Popeye’s Bahamas Mackey Street restaurant, and south of ICS Security Concepts. Mr Smith-Taylor and Walk Good Bahamas are alleging that, following the former’s 17-year uninterrupted relationship with Alpargatas USA, problems in obtaining sufficient supplies and product quantities only arose in July 2025 with the impact now being fully felt. “As a direct and foreseeable result of Alpargatas’ wrongful conduct, Walk Good Bahamas was unable to do business with a major client in the Bahamas, known as ITS Group, which operates more than nine thirdparty retail locations including the Atlantis resort and Baha Mar hotel in The Bahamas,” the duo alleged. “Alpargatas had been attempting to do business with the ITS Group for over eight years, and when ITS Group finally placed an order with Walk Good Bahamas it could not be filled because Alpargatas had ceased supplying product.” ITS Group is
DISTRIBUTE - See Page B7
Bahamian-led group ‘Myles Ahead’ at former Club Med
Junkanoo Beach vendors blast ‘crazy’ harassment
BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
JUNKANOO Beach vendors yesterday asserted they are suffering a “mental and financial toll” from purported harassment by over-zealous Ministry of Tourism security personnel, with their president branding the situation “crazy” and “not conducive to commerce and tourism”. Byron Coley-Austin, the Junkanoo Beach Association (JBA) head, told Tribune Business that he and his members - who have been complaining about the actions of security guards for 18 months - saw their concerns come to a head last Thursday just ahead of the peak Easter tourism weekend with “aggressive enforcement” resulting in a hair braider and other vendors being ordered to shut their operations.
A BAHAMIAN businessman and his partner are planning “a measured hospitality and residential” development at Governor’s Harbour after acquiring Eleuthera’s former Club Med resort property, Tribune Business can reveal. Anthony Myers, Bahamas Hot Mix's chairman and founder, has teamed with James Lyle, founder of Lyford Cay-based investment management firm, Fulmar Advisors, to purchase the site that holds the ruins of the former hotel which was shuttered more than a quarter-of-a-century ago following its 1999 closure in Hurricane Floyd’s aftermath. The duo’s acquisition and development vehicle, Myles Ahead Ltd, in a statement responding to Tribune Business inquiries, offered few details on their development plans given that these are still in the early stages and subject to consultation with the local Eleuthera community plus review by the relevant government regulatory agencies. However, they appeared to try and distance themselves from the $650m all-in investment in a 600-acre resort destination that is being proposed by US gaming and hospitality developer, Jeff Jacobs, for a site located near to their project. Myles Ahead Ltd, while emphasising that they are two different projects, emphasised that its own
CONSTRUCT - See Page B5
CLUB MED
BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
“It’s just very frustrating, and this continuing effort to provoke and harass is unconscionable,” he said. “It’s really taking a toll on everyone mentally, financially and otherwise. It’s crazy. It shouldn’t be that way. It’s crazy. It’s being going on for 18 months. It’s just a constant harassment that’s not necessary. Everyone wants to work and comply. “We need to bring it to light and call them out for exactly what they’re doing. They are not operating on the basis of creating an atmosphere that is conducive for business and visitors. They are constantly trying to disrupt and create chaos for whatever reason. It has to be exposed and has to be disclosed. “It’s quite obvious they are trying to build a case [against certain vendors] and flinging
SECURITY - See Page B7
Cable slams URCA licence fee doubling in five years BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net CABLE Bahamas has hit out at “exorbitant increases” in its regulator’s budget that threaten to impose an “increased burden” and have “a material impact on investment decisions” by itself and other licensees in a fast-evolving sector that is critical to this nation’s economy. The BISX-listed communications provider, in a February 6, 2026, response to the Utilities Regulation and Competition
Authority’s (URCA) annual draft plan, argued that the 43 percent increase in the regulator’s budget for overseeing the Bahamian communications industry “would typically warrant close scrutiny” by its Board of Directors - an observation echoed by its main rival, the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC). And Cable Bahamas argued that much of this spike appears to be related to “international public relations activity” - The Bahamas’ hosting of the ITU
REGULATE - See Page B5
J RESORTVILLAS RENDERINGS
$650m resort plan ‘not what we want’ as Eleuthera model Ex-BNT chief ‘laid out’ density concerns for US developer Warned about challenges with Family Island development But beach access, path pledges could help ‘build trust’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net AN ex-Bahamas National Trust (BNT) chief yesterday disclosed he has “laid it out” for the US developer behind a $650m resort destination proposed for Governor’s Harbour that his ambitions are “too large, too dense and not what we want for Eleuthera”. Eric Carey, president and chief executive of One Consultants, who now also lives on the island, told Tribune Business he had voiced his concerns directly to Jeff Jacobs, chairman and chief executive of Jacobs Investments, and argued that the residential real estate component, in particular, needed to be “downscaled” from the planned 350-plus units. Describing the encounter with Mr Jacobs as “very
ERIC CAREY cordial”, he added that most Governor’s Harbour and Eleuthera residents have “no appetite for a casino” - even the small, restaurant-sized amenity promised by the US gaming and hospitality. And the former BNT executive director said he also warned that any gaming facility will likely face opposition from the island’s religious
DEVELOP - See Page B4