What's in store for Store Bay?

THE question on everyone’s lips is what’s in store for one of the most beautiful beaches in Tobago.
The Tobago House of Assembly intends to turn the Store Bay Beach Facility into a family-friendly, world-class recreational venue.
Although lacking the appeal of some of the gems of the island such as Pirates Bay, Englishman’s Bay and Pigeon Point, Store Bay’s beauty is unique.
A sunset at Store Bay is a sight to behold. The rhythmic sound of gentle waves crashing on the shore is enhanced as the sun descends beyond the horizon, leaving an explosion of vibrant colours in the fading sky. The silhouettes of boats on the shimmering water become more pronounced till they disappear into the darkness.
It’s not just beautiful to look at. Store Bay has long been a regular stop for many for local cuisine such as crab and dumpling or conch and provisions, available at the popular Miss Trim or Miss Jean food stalls.

As a visitor approaches the steps descending to the beach, the buzz of the blender at Man on The Rock beach bar indicates that owner Ashley McMillan, or one of his staff, is whipping up a cocktail for a customer.
Tobago treats such as bene ball, sugar cake, preserved mango, preserved plums and many other delights are available at small tables to the left of the steps down to the beach, where vendors, mostly women, sell for most of the day.

What to expect
The layout of the popular spot is expected to change soon, with the Division of Tourism planning major renovations. Among the new features of an initial design are a swimming pool, a roadside bar and food court, a beach bar and restaurant, and a jetty. And visitors will have to pay to enter the new facility.
The division said the project is still in the consultation phase and no tenant would be displaced when the facility is completed.
However, there have been complaints that not enough consultation is happening, though the division met on two occasions with some stakeholders in July. The meetings followed a survey done last year by the Eco-Industrial Development Company of Tobago. 
At one of the meetings, tenants were given two options: a full shutdown, which would allow the project to be completed faster (nine months); or on a phased basis, which would take 18 months. The division had hoped to start this month, but more consultation is expected to take place.
Meisha Trim, owner of Miss Trim Foods, has been selling at Store Bay for 17 years. Her mother, Greta, started the business over 40 years ago. In an interview with Newsday on September 8, she said she fully supports the initiative.
Contrary to some claims by stakeholders, she said there was a “collaborative” approach to the meeting. She said although not everyone was present, they were told to spread the information to the other tenants and were assured all information would be available at the office of the facility manager.
Although acknowledging her rent may increase, Trim said once it is “within limit,” and proportional to the enhancement of the facility, she does not mind.
The current food area is expected to expand considerably, with bigger booths, more room for storage of dry goods and a larger seating area for customers.
However, the prospect of a new food court closer to the road has left Trim a bit anxious. She said patrons coming in will have to pass through the new food court before they get to the existing area. “It’s up to me where I want to go,” she said.
McMillan, who has his establishment at Store Bay for 20 years, said progress is needed, but "Store Bay doh need all of that. Store Bay is a natural place. It's the Mecca of Tobago."
He said the place just needs "a little facelift - plastic surgery."
He said if the division plans to shut down the facility, the vendors need financial support.
"People under pressure here. I'm not lying to yuh."
He said booths need upgraded, the beach needs better lighting for the night time and an ATM on site.
Local businessman and prominent artist Martin Superville, who was once a tenant at Store Bay, said he loves the idea of redeveloping the area. 
he area and Tobago tourism.
“Before, you could have just jumped out the airport and walk across to Store Bay. The whole way that the traffic is going to flow (has changed).
“Unless you have a hotel down in Crown Point, everybody heading on the other side of the island.”
So, he said, Store Bay must be looked at as a destination now, not a spot along the thoroughfare.
Better can be done
“I’ve always felt that that place was misused/under-used. I had a space there and left,” Superville recalled. 
“The crowd that goes to Store Bay is a very mixed crowd, more a Trinidadian crowd. Tourism dried up and most of the tourists headed to the other side of the island, because the beach boys now would hassle them: ‘Yuh wa ah boat ride? Yuh wa ah this, yuh wa ah that?’ You leave one guy, the next guy hit you the same thing.
“There’s always that uncontrolled behaviour.”
Trim concurred, saying the touts had driven tourists to Castara and other parts, though Trinis who have become accustomed to the aggressive approach still frequent the bay.
The issue of touting has been a perennial problem at Store Bay. Former chief secretary Ancil Dennis introduced a ticketing system in 2020 to try to end it, but failed.
Trim said, “None of it has worked in the past.
“I don’t feel safe at times entering Store Bay by myself. Sometimes there are even fights.”
In a Tobago Updates interview on September 4, tourism secretary Tashia Burris said the division had received complaints about lawlessness at the venue and families not feeling safe.
Superville said he is wary of the crowd the new facility will attract and what measures will be put in place to ensure its standards are adhered to and maintained. 
“Have you ever noticed that the movies that are open to all ages make more money than the ones 21 years and over? So now you have to be very conscious of the crowd and the behaviour.
“How long is the swimming pool going be open for? Is it going to be open where people can swim in the night?
“Now people would want to hire it for their personal parties – how does that go?
“After them parties and they throw their bottles all over...”
He said a jetty at Store Bay was long overdue, and believes this will provide another interesting option for the hosting of Angostura Sailing Week and the TT Great Race.
He called for proper tendering for the project, to get not only the right contractor but also value for taxpayers’ money.
Superville also said the customer service on the island needs to match the money being spent on improving infrastructure.
“In the tourist sector, you need to love people.
“The people that sometimes run places that are (on the) frontline for the island, they make money because they have no choice.
“But you wonder, if more businesses come in with different styles of how they operate, they may bust. Because people now getting better service, nicer conversations. You doh go by the bar and people just studying to get your money and eh thinking to have a nice conversation and advising you to go here or there.


“Be an ambassador for the island. Every bar around the island, the owner should be an ambassador for the island.”
He said Tobago has not taken tourism seriously in the past, but better late than never.
Thinking even bigger
In the initial redesign, Superville said he did not see a specific area for the boat operators “who make the reef tours so special.
“If you selling your tickets you have to stay there and wait for people to come in and choose their boat. You give them a nice, little space and they could put up pictures and sell little items – cups, T-shirts, key rings. Now your business could expand and sell goggles, fins for their cruise. You could do a coffee, and early breakfast with scrambled eggs.”
Superville said tourists want souvenirs such as T-shirts with a picture of the glass-bottom boat they went on, or a key chain with a carving of the boat. This, he said, would also stimulate the local economy, as the tour operators lean on the expertise of other businesses to meet that demand.
“You can’t make everything. You have to go to the man who can make them things, or the man doing the printing.
“I have to see where everybody wins. If everybody wins, then nobody complaining.”
Another necessity, he felt, was an information centre to point visitors to other attractions, hotels and guesthouses. He believes a museum should also be included, as well as a jogging track and a calypso tent.
He said Tobago needs to think outside the box when it comes to tourism and its product, especially when welcoming visitors from cruise ships.
Superville wants Tobago to expand its horizons in a very literal way. 
“They done pass through Barbados, which does beaches and hospitality better than us; Grenada, a nice port with restaurants all around – then they reach to Tobago.
“We only fighting to get Germans, Americans, and British and we have the whole of South America below us. The problem we have had for many years is (an indifference) to the Spanish language.
“Luck would shine upon TT...Now you have Spanish-people speaking everywhere – hotels, restaurants, bars – all those places where tourists visit.
“We should be selling to Guyana, Argentina, Peru, Colombia.”
Then, he said, rather than being the last island in the Caribbean, Tobago would become “the first with lovely sand and beaches.
“The whole of South America sitting there waiting for us — and nobody eh sending a plane to Ecuador.” (Source: Newsday, September 9, 2024)