PriceSmart opened its first warehouse club in Montego Bay on Thursday, an investment the company put at more than US$28 million. The St James location is the membership retailer’s third in Jamaica and takes its network across Central America, the Caribbean and Colombia to 59 clubs.

The club, in Ironshore, employs 182 people. PriceSmart said most of the positions, which range from cashiering and receiving to optical services and club management, went to residents of Montego Bay and the wider western parishes.

The opening comes later than first planned. PriceSmart told investors in January that disruption from Hurricane Melissa had pushed the Montego Bay opening to autumn 2026, with a fourth Jamaican club, on South Camp Road in Kingston, expected in winter. Both had previously been targeted about a season earlier.

Montego Bay is the company’s first Jamaican site outside the Kingston metropolitan area. Its two existing clubs are on Red Hills Road in Kingston and in Portmore, St Catherine. Jamaica has been among its stronger markets: sales here rose 13 per cent in 2025 and 14 per cent in 2024, roughly double the growth rate of the company’s wider Caribbean business.

PriceSmart said it chose Montego Bay because of the city’s role as the commercial centre of western Jamaica, its population base, ongoing residential construction and the strength of its tourism economy.

The building covers 67,300 square feet, including 43,500 square feet of sales floor, with 277 parking spaces. It runs on solar power, CO₂ refrigeration and LED lighting that the company says cuts lighting energy use by up to 60 per cent. PriceSmart said it operates under guidelines aligned with NEPA’s Green Business Operator certification.

The club carries more than 1,700 products. Over 700 of these, covering food, fresh produce and non-food items, come from Jamaican suppliers. Members can order online for pickup or home delivery, and the location includes an optical centre and prepared food counter.

The company is also extending its community programmes to the west through the PriceSmart Foundation. These include a partnership with Young Women/Young Men of Purpose that is providing 130 young entrepreneurs in St James with training, mentoring and seed capital. The foundation is separately funding recovery work in West Green, a Montego Bay community heavily damaged by Hurricane Melissa, covering schooling, livelihoods, small business support and counselling for families.

PriceSmart has not disclosed sales or membership targets for the new club.