With simply $50 and a dream of an enduring legacy, Jamaican-born Andrew Morris tells his story of Sam’s Caribbean Market in West Hempstead, Nassau County, Lengthy Island, which he owns along with his spouse, Jean.
“I usually suppose again to 1979, when Jean and I, two youngsters from Jamaica, arrived in New York—individually, strangers to one another, however unknowingly certain by destiny,” Morris advised Caribbean Life on Friday, June 20. “We every stepped off completely different planes with simply $50 in our pockets and hearts stuffed with ambition, navigating a world that felt each exhilarating and unforgiving.
“It wasn’t lengthy earlier than our paths crossed on this huge metropolis of countless potentialities, and, collectively, we discovered not solely love however a shared willpower to carve out a future,” Morris added.
“Nobody palms you the American Dream; it’s a must to chase it, wrestle it, and form it to your personal,” he continued. “Generally, which means taking dangers that others would name reckless. However, when you will have somebody who believes within the dream as a lot as you do, it now not seems like a chance; it seems like a joint mission.”
Morris stated his first job in New York had him “pounding the pavement — actually.
“I used to be a foot messenger, darting by way of the town’s chaos, delivering envelopes, and studying firsthand the relentless rhythm of a spot that by no means slows down,” he stated.
However Morris stated his coronary heart was stressed. He stated he earned a level in tv and radio from Brooklyn Faculty, Metropolis College of New York, and later a Grasp of Enterprise Administration (MBA) from Columbia College, hoping to safe his future in Company America.
But, Morris stated one thing was lacking.
“Success felt hole with out function,” he stated, stating that he and his spouse “longed for the flavors and heat of residence, the laughter over plates of curry goat, the consolation of heat coco bread in hand.
“Extra importantly, we noticed a necessity,” he added. “Caribbean immigrants, like us, have been trying to find a style of familiarity, a connection to the roots they’d left behind.”
Morris stated that realization planted the seed for Sam’s Caribbean Marketplace on Hempstead Turnpike, West Hempstead, Nassau County, Lengthy Island.
In 1993, Morris stated he did one thing most individuals—particularly these with an MBA—would by no means dream of doing: He stop his company job to open a small Caribbean grocery retailer, with no prior retail expertise and no large buyers—“simply religion, a piece ethic solid within the battle, and the hope that, if we constructed one thing actual, folks would come.”
Morris stated he and his spouse named the shop after his spouse’s late father, Samuel “Sam” Bonar, as “a tribute to the type of resilience and love that holds households collectively.”
Quickly, he stated Sam’s wasn’t only a retailer; it grew to become a cultural landmark.
“I’ll always remember the day a buyer advised her sister, ‘If Sam’s doesn’t have it, you don’t want it,’” Morris stated. “That type of loyalty has stored us going for over 31 years.”
From monitoring down the rarest Caribbean spices to slow-cooking oxtail like grandma used to, Morris stated Sam’s grew into one thing far larger than a enterprise.
“It grew to become an anchor, a bridge between the place we got here from and the place we at the moment are; a spot the place homesick immigrants may step inside and, for a second, be again residence; and the place these much less acquainted however desirous to attempt Caribbean flavors have been welcomed not simply with the right substances, however with recommendation and help,” he stated.
Through the years, Morris stated clients didn’t simply come for the merchandise – “they got here for the sensation, the acquainted greetings, the odor of contemporary breadfruit, the unstated understanding that tradition isn’t one thing you permit behind.
“It’s one thing you carry, and, in the correct place, it prospers,” stated Morris, stating that operating a enterprise as an immigrant isn’t like following a map. “It’s like crusing uncharted waters, by no means understanding when the following storm will hit.”
He stated there have been days when the numbers didn’t add up when banks turned them away once they questioned if they may maintain the doorways open.
“However Jean and I have been by no means constructed to again down,” Morris asserted. “We’ve fought our means by way of extra than simply monetary struggles; we’ve fought for our well being – each surviving most cancers facet by facet.
“We’ve fought towards doubt, towards the worry that possibly we had dreamed too large,” he added.
However Morris famous that goals, like roots, are “cussed.”
“They push by way of cracks in concrete, refusing to wither,” he stated. “And thru each hardship, we reminded ourselves.”
Nevertheless, he stated this was by no means nearly promoting merchandise.
“It was about preserving historical past, feeding nostalgia, and proving that irrespective of how powerful the journey, we belonged right here,” Morris stated.
He stated their daughter, Melissa, grew up within the enterprise, studying “the rhythms of the register and the faces of our clients.”
At this time, Morris stated Melissa brings that very same “sharp eye and dedication to serving to steer the way forward for Sam’s.”
He stated that Andy, their son, who as soon as packed baggage for patrons, later stuffed his duffel bag and served within the US Navy, “carrying with him the identical perseverance that constructed this enterprise from nothing.”
Morris stated Andy has since joined the US Military Reserve and is at present in boot camp, set to graduate this month.
“Sam’s Caribbean Marketplace isn’t only a retailer; it’s a time capsule of ambition, sacrifice, and the cussed refusal to let our tradition fade,” Morris posited. “Each jar of Scotch Bonnet pepper sauce, each bundle of callaloo, and each heat beef patty served proves that the Caribbean spirit thrives – irrespective of the place we plant our roots.
“For these nonetheless on the market chasing a dream, wrestling with doubt, and questioning in the event that they’ll ever ‘make it,’ know this: the American Dream isn’t a superbly paved highway,” he added. “It’s a market stall constructed from scrap wooden; it’s a late-night hustle; it’s baking 200,000 patties in a house oven for years; it’s the selection to maintain going when the world says cease.
“And, whenever you get there, you’ll notice the dream was by no means in regards to the vacation spot; it was in regards to the climb,” Morris stated.
Sam’s Caribbean Market is 225 Hempstead Turnpike, West Hempstead, NY 11552.
You may attain Morris at (516) 481-6602 or crew@sams247.com.
