THE GLEANER, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2025 | www.jamaica-gleaner.com | A6 is where Michelle, Stacy and I began our training in our early teens during summer and winter holidays from studying overseas. I remember customers coming from as far as Negril weekly for items that you could not nd anywhere else on the island. Dad knew what he was doing. From here, the Sing Chin machine kept on rolling. Nicholas, the youngest of my siblings was born in 1985. Dad and Uncle Fong acquired Manor Park Pharmacy in 1988 and then started Shopper’s Mart in Ocho Rios with their brother Aston the following year. Super Valu Home Centre on Mannings Hill Road came next in the early 1990s which led to the eventual opening of Super Valu Home Centre in Liguanea in 1998. This was one of dad’s favourite stores at the time and he still had plans up until recently to open an even bigger one. So up to this point in his life, dad had proved that whatever he put his mind to, and whatever he gambled, paid off. He now set his sights on something bigger. With the help of three friends, Kenneth Loshusan, Albert ‘Dockie’ Lym, and Gladdy Loshusan, dad and Uncle Fong started Progressive Grocers of Jamaica Limited in 1999. Progressive started with one store, then eight, and now stands at a growing chain of 22 stores. I would say that this gamble also paid off. But, of course, he would not stop there. While the Super Valu Group of Companies were doing well, and Progressive Grocers of Jamaica was slowly taking hold across the island, dad wanted more. In 2006, he and Uncle Fong acquired land on Constant Spring Road and started what would be one of the most anticipated openings of a plaza in recent history. After breaking ground that year, dad took his time building Super Valu Towne Centre. We’ve had customers come in and tell us that when we rst broke ground, they were starting Immaculate prep, then they went to Immaculate High, and now graduating from UWI, and we still were not done. We even heard stories that Sing Chin had run out of money and couldn’t nish the project. Truth of the matter is, that dad just wanted to be involved in every detail of both the plaza and the eventual supermarket, Super Valu Fresh Foods. No matter how long it took, he was going to do it his way, but as usual, there had to be an obstacle. In March of 2020, our island, as well as the entire planet, was shook by the COVID pandemic. It was a crazy and scary time. We were nally ready to open Super Valu Fresh Foods but that would be unthinkable – to start a new venture during a pandemic with all of the curfew and restrictions. Stacy and I questioned his decision to open. You would have to be either crazy, or a visionary to open that door. But guess what, Super Valu Fresh Foods opened its doors in May of 2020, in the middle of the pandemic, and again, the gamble paid off. So here we are on a day that we all knew would eventually come but, obviously, not so soon. Dad did everything the way he wanted and prepared us all as he always does at home and at work. A testament to that is while my siblings and I were by his bedside, and Stacy and I away from the stores, a Category 5 hurricane struck our island home. The Super Valu family stepped up and managed the storm while we were not AC6 Tribute to MR SING SLUN CHIN, CD THE WAY HE WANTED CONTINUED FROM C4 Craig Chin with father Sing Slun Chin PLEASE SEE THE WAY HE WANTED, C11
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