Living Abroad catches up with Kim Sivyer, who opened her own health and beauty store on Barbados, and now owns two shops on the island

When Living Abroad last spoke to Kim Sivyer, she was just gearing up to open her second store in an upmarket new retail development, Limegrove. So has it all been plain sailing for the founder and owner of Pure Source?

“It has certainly been very challenging,” Kim admits. “We practically had to build the interior from scratch, as we were handed over a completely empty shell. Not even the walls were finished. It took a lot longer than expected and went well over budget, as there were complications and delays with installing many of the fixtures and fittings, and practically everything had to be shipped in. I love how the store has turned out, though. The Wellness Rooms, which are our treatment rooms, are exactly how I wanted them – relaxed, stylishly simple, clean and private, and the size of the main store has provided more scope for new brands. Our customers are pleased and love the store, which is the most important thing.

From the word go, I have looked on the treatment rooms as an additional business that compliments our retail store, and was adamant that it was in tune with what Pure Source represents – quality service, quality products and quality treatments.
We have spent a lot of time training the staff, not only in techniques but also understanding the products they use: the benefits, the ingredients and so on.

Since we have opened we have become more affiliated with the natural skincare brand REN and have recently tweaked our menu to reflect this. REN treatments are available in some very exclusive spas in the UK and we are quite proud that we are the first in the Caribbean to offer them.

More people are inclined to indulge in a treatment whilst they are on holiday, whether a massage or facial. However, they are still very particular (and rightly so) about where they have it, what products are used and how much it costs.

We also offer alternative therapies conducted by specialists including osteopathy and reflexology, and we have found that these treatments are very popular, particularly with overseas visitors that regularly require them, even when they are away. Our local and expat customers tend to go more for facials (which incorporate Japanese and Shiatsu massage) and body massage such as hot stone and lymphatic drainage. Yes, considering the size of Barbados, the market is relatively large for beauty treatments. It must have something to do with the climate and setting!

Our original shop in Sunset Crest has been turned into a home/soft furnishings store. I wouldn’t want to be an interior designer, but I love searching for unique pieces that represent good design and quality. We have been retailing cushions for the last few years from a French company called Iosis, and every time I visit France I see so many fabulous things we could retail in Barbados.

I have always been an admirer of Terence Conran and the Conran stores, and how everything is hand picked for its design, purpose and functionality, I would love to replicate this concept in Barbados, albeit on a smaller scale. We will be retailing cotton and linen bedlinen and bedspreads from France and Portugal, beautiful printed cushions and pure silk bedlinen from Gingerlily, a brand we introduced last year with their silk travel pillows. I’m also looking at big, glass vases, which are hard to find here. Everything will be unique.

I would say the majority of the businesses at Limegrove are currently run by Barbadians or other Caribbeans, and there are only a few run by expats. There is a lovely store selling French designer clothes and there is also a branch of Agent Provacateur, and the Juice Bar on the ground floor is run by a hard-working Liverpudlian-Bajan guy. Of course, Michael Kors and Louis Vuitton, who also have stores here, are not from this neck of the woods either!

There is definitely a lot of caution at the moment with where the economy is heading, and for us it’s a matter of sitting tight and concentrating on the fundamental areas of business that you know will work. The concept of Pure Source is what has made the company so successful. I still get a lot of people enquiring whether we would open a store on another island and I know that the concept would probably work well elsewhere, it’s all a matter of knowing when the right time is to do it.

I own 100% of the company and I’m now reaching a point where I would consider taking on a partner and further outside interests. If this happens then we would have more opportunity to expand. I was in New York last year and I was amazed that there was nothing like my store there. New York is only four hours away from Barbados: how exciting would that be?

It’s been a hard year in terms of stress, work and financial outlay and for many weeks I have been working seven days without a break, so I have missed quite a few Sundays on the beach. Quite a lot of my friends left the island this year, and that has been a hard blow, but Barbados can be a transient place and you have to remember that.

I still stick with my belief that I could end up somewhere else. At this moment in time I haven’t got a clue where, but my priority is building the business, and until I can take a few steps back from that, I won’t know what’s next. I received another three-year work permit this year at a cost that was more than double that of the last one. It would still be nice to have the flexibility of residency, as I have invested a lot in this country and having just a work permit does create limitations.

I feel it’s important to exercise, so I swim as much as I can. Here on Barbados we are blessed with some fantastic yoga teachers, so I do yoga once a week and play tennis regularly. We also have some great places to eat here that are not too expensive, so just going out for a bite to eat after work with friends and having dinner in the open air with a rum and coke helps you to wind down.

Barbados is more developed and forward thinking than most other islands in the region but it is still a difficult place to operate a business compared to the UK or US. I do sit and wonder how much I would achieve if I was doing what I am doing elsewhere.

However, whenever I make a visit to London I can still see the reasons why I left. Here I don’t wake up every day dreading the commute or going into work. I think that is important and despite the challenges I have faced in the past year, I haven’t lost my mind.

That’s all credit to Barbados and the way of life here – the fact that you can go and dive in the sea when you’ve had a hard day.”

Pure Source Ltd, Limegrove tel 001 246 271 8211, Sunset Crest tel 001 246 432 5190, www.puresourcebarbados.com