Construction for the new Tropicana Shopping Mall is set to begin, soon after a devastating fire destroyed the entire building and other nearby shops, and residents in Kokopo, last month.
This was revealed by Tropicana owner and East New Britain’s longtime businesswomen, Sandra Lau.
This new building will have an extension of six meters out to sea, three stories, more shelving space, air conditioning, and a bigger car park.
Surviving fire is something one would want to experience only once.
This is Sandra Lau, she and her husband John, have been doing business in East New Britain for over thirty years now.
Tropicana Limited is the biggest business in the province. It is an active player in the province’s economy, and has been assisting other organizations where it can.
This is not the first time; the couple has lost their business in an uncontrolled situation. Their first shopping mall was destroyed in 1994 during the Rabaul volcano eruption, and just twenty years after, the second one was destroyed in a fire believed to have started from an electrical fault.
Tropicana has over five hundred employees from cashiers to tailoring. For those who used to work in the old shopping mall, they will be recruited again to work once the new mall is constructed
It was a miracle; Lau’s house and the warehouse were saved from the fire. The supermarket, department, pharmacy, wholesale and stationary sections of the business are all housed in this one building.
Sandra said, people are important to her and she is happy no one was hurt. She is now conducting awareness on fire in the province.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=DEf7mu3if6I%3Ffeature%3Doembed%26wmode%3Dopaque%26showinfo%3D0%26showsearch%3D0%26rel%3D0
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