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The newly constructed, 700-square-foot Cariloha store opened after a year in the making and is considered part of the Castries’s (St. Lucia’s capital city) shopping district. It’s located in the Pointe Seraphine cruise terminal, next to the popular Rum Shop bar-café and only 30 yards away from its sister-brand store, Del Sol, which retails color-changing clothing and accessories, also found in the terminal.
With bamboo being St. Lucia’s national plant, this new eco-friendly clothing retailer is hosting a grand opening event in bamboo’s honor through the remainder of the month to celebrate its arrival into the St. Lucia marketplace. Representation from St. Lucia’s National Development Corporation, Mr. Green (no pun intended), who was invited to the initial store opening, said, “It’s the best-looking, non-jewelry store in not only the development, but also the entire capital city of Castries.”
Pointe Seraphine receives about 70 percent of the cruise ship visits to St. Lucia and is a duty-free port that’s open to the public. “Local customers have already been enjoying Cariloha’s stylish, ultra-soft bamboo clothing, and several visitors have commented that they know where they’re going to get some Christmas shopping done,” said Landon John, Cariloha Regional Sales Director.
“Cariloha is looking forward to infusing money back into St. Lucia’s economy by working with local labor to build out and maintain Cariloha’s physical integrity, and hiring several local employees to staff our stores as well,” said General Manager, Ryan Cazaubon, of Cariloha and Del Sol stores at Pointe Seraphine and Del Sol cart at Place Carenage cruise terminal. “Having a strong, modern-looking retail store grabs more consumer attention to St. Lucia and vies for a higher perceived value in today’s cruise and Caribbean marketplace.” In addition to overseeing retail store management for both Cariloha and Del Sol, Ryan is heavily involved in expansion to Martinique.
The Cariloha retail establishment doesn’t claim to be the ‘greenest’ store on the planet; but rather a step in the right direction. Local earth-friendly organization, Our Planet, based in a state-of-the art facility on the island, made an instant connection with Cariloha during its opening weekend when Our Planet Director, Sarah Adams, stopped by to check out the new store. Adams said she was interested in working with the Cariloha store and hopes to further the movement for sustaining a healthier planet. “We were glad to see Sarah and Our Planet at the store, and we think there’s great opportunity for teaching and hopefully creating a partnership format of some kind,” said John.