Faces Around Town: Jim Beisel

Name: Jim Beisel

Position: Red Sail Sports Retail Manager (including Red's Emporium at Camana Bay)

Where are you from?: I grew up in central Pennsylvania farm country near Penn State University in a tiny town called Warriors Mark. There are more dairy cows in my hometown than people!

How long have you worked in Camana Bay?: I have been a customer in Camana Bay for over 14 years, but we started designing Red’s Emporium seven years ago.

How would you describe your day to day?: My days are mostly made up of planning and answering questions. All day every day, I field questions from my team (buyers, supervisors, team leaders and sales staff) and vendor partners on a myriad of subjects related to retail operations and importation of goods. My other time is spent planning sales, inventory levels, open to buy, staffing, marketing events, social media, store layouts, store design, new vendors, new products, new trends, new locations and opportunities.

What do you enjoy about your job?: There are three things that I still get really excited about after almost 40 years in the retail and clothing business:

1. The deal! It’s still an adrenaline rush finding great merchandise in the market and negotiating a buy at 30%, 50%, even 70% off, knowing we will be passing those savings on to our customers.
2. New products and trends in the market that we know will be big hits with our customers and getting them to Cayman at affordable prices. It still puts a smile on my face seeing our customers' reactions.
3. Passing on the knowledge of retail operations and management I have acquired over the years to staff that is eager to learn. I teach via slightly embellished stories of my accomplishments and mistakes over the years. I tell really good stories!

Favourite Camana Bay memory?: I have been fortunate to have been invited to two different birthday boat parties leaving and returning to the Camana Bay dock that included good friends and always good laughs and great memories.

What’s something we don’t know about you that we should?: Even though I went to college for computer programming (my high school yearbook states, “I someday want to work for IBM”), I ended up working the last 40 years in the retail and clothing industry. I have a very diverse background as a store manager, buyer, merchandise manager and senior vice president of operations for a variety of retailers and clothing manufacturers. I have worked for department stores, off-price stores, catalogue companies, the Marine Corps Exchange, the Navy Exchange Command and a clothing manufacturer and distributor that did business with most major retail chains in the United States.

This article was first published in the December 2024/January 2025 print edition of Camana Bay Times.