Fontana Limited will spend $100 million on a new location in Portmore, St Catherine, which is to be commissioned by 2023.

The pharmacy company will build “a brand new structure” spanning 20,000 square feet, Fontana CEO Anne Chang told the Financial Gleaner.

The pharmacy will be located at Braeton Parkway and Municipal Drive in Portmore, which they described as adjacent to the future PriceSmart complex, and will become the seventh in the Fontana chain.

Chang says that within three months Fontana Portmore is expected to earn more revenue than the cost of developing the store, but will take longer to turn a profit.

The pharmacy company, which was founded five decades ago but just went public in 2018, earned a profit of $367 million on revenue of $3.9 billion over nine months ending March 2021. It’s total assets are estimated at $3.45 billion.

The new complex will take design queues from the Fontana complex at Waterloo Square in Kingston, which includes a pharmacy, beauty hub, artisan products, children’s selection, an extensive home décor collection, a business centre, courier services, and provides over 200 parking spaces for customers. The Waterloo Square complex has been highly popular and heavily trafficked since its opening in 2019.

“Our strategy is to continue to improve our stores with each new location, expediting innovation to make shopping faster and easier for our customers,” said Chang in a statement on the expansion.