THE PORTUGUESE IN BUSINESS
Many a rum shop and grocery turned into a more prosperous business in later generations, with supermarkets all over the country such as Camacho Brothers (MF Camacho), Camacho Supermarkets (José Pereira Camacho), CA Correia, Carvalho’s, Claudio Carvalho & Sons, Conqueror Grocery (Francisco Gomes), El Dorado Grocery (MF Camacho Jr), Ice House Grocery (Manoel Fernandez, forerunner of Hi-Lo), JF Reis & Co. (José F. Reis), Joaquim Ribeiro, JJ Ribeiro (MF Camacho Jr), JP Supermarket (José João Pereira), Low Budget Supermarket (Luiz Gomes Biscoito), Maraval Grocery and Bar (José Romano Teixeira), Marques Grocery (Marques Brothers), Mucurapo Supermarket (Nelson Rodrigues), Rodrigues Supermarket (Herman Rodrigues), St Clair Grocery (Carlos Gomes), The Standard (J. Mendonça), Suares Supermarket (João Soares), Teixeira’s Grocery (José Romano Teixeira), White Eagle Bar & Grocery (Henrique Rodrigues de Souza), Woodbrook Grocery (Guilherme Rodrigues), and many more. Bakeries included Coelho’s and the de Freitas’ Crown Bakery, and others. (A fuller listing is available online and in print elsewhere.)
Other businesses associated with Portuguese entrepreneurs include Abreu Trading, AM Querino, Ancafi Printers, Alpha Engineering, Appliance Manufacturers Limited, Carter Optical, Chaves Electrical, Cocobel, Design Collaborative, D’Ornellas and Co., El Chico, Elite Ltd., Ernesco, Fernandes, Ferreira Optical, Furness, Jen-Mar Business Machines, Jet Printing Service, KC Confectionery, Max Ferreira, McEnearney, Media Sales, Newsworthy Limited, Pereira & Co. Ltd., Sá Gomes Marine Services, Superservice (now Scrip-J), Techicenter, Tricon, Vincent de Souza, and many, many more.
Newer businesses created by descendants include Adriana S. Camacho Jewellery, Dawne Correia’s Festive Foods, Good Old Marine Equipment Specialist (G.O.M.E.S.), Jogo Productions, Laura Ferreira Photography and others.
As Lloyd Sidney Smith put it over 60 years ago in Trinidad – Who, What, Why, “a young generation of Portuguese is springing up in this community since the old are disappearing in the golden melting pot of which there is so much dross. As a national entity their general all-round usefulness to the Colony cannot from any angle be denied.”
