If bad times continue in Bermuda and all of the other stores in Hamilton close, the Hornburg Calypso Ltd. chain will be the last ones left standing, according to the company's general manager Pierre Dutoya.

Mr. Dutoya, who is also the chief executive officer of the Island-wide group of clothes and accessories shops, said that as a small company it could pull together and get through tough economic climates.

“We will have no problem surviving,” said Mr. Dutoya, whose company is bucking the trend of closing down city-centre shops, and opening a high-end Front Street women's store, MaxMara, at an estimated cost of half a million dollars in April.

“I believe that even if every business will totally change, I will be the last one left...Because I fight.”

Mr. Dutoya said that his company was doing well in general and had a loyal team of staff who would work together to make sure it did well.

And he pointed to the last time there was a mini-recession in 1991, when management went to staff to ask them to take a ten percent pay cut to see them through difficult times.

“It was the Gulf War and was the first real crisis we had been through. So we asked the staff to help us, and we said we will cut the pay ten percent from management right down, or we will have to lay off some staff. They all agreed.

“As soon as the war passed and things got better, we reinstated everyone's pay. We survived and we did well. We pull together in hard times.”

And now he is looking to expand his staff for the new store, MaxMara.

He said he will need a store manager and maybe four highly trained staff to manage the high-end store, which will hold the new lines from the Italian designer.

MaxMara is an Italian designer who produces classically cut clothes and is well known for its tailored suits made out of natural fibres, such as wool, linen and cotton.

The store will stock women's clothes from size 2 to 14 and will offer the MaxMara main line, MaxMara basic, the Weekend collection as well as the more contemporary ‘S MaxMara.

The shop will take up part of the old Frith's Liquor store at 57 Front Street, which closed before Christmas.

The store is currently being refurbished and the MaxMara shop will take up the larger part of the old liquor store, with a new liquor store, Front Street Wines and Spirits, occupying the rest.

Hornburg Calypso owns and runs Calypso, Voila and Benetton in Hamilton, as well as many Calypso stores in hotels around the Island.

Mr. Dutoya, who has been at the helm of the company for 11 years, says he believes the new store will work because of the classic design and quality of clothing produced by MaxMara.

He said that the clothes were affordable as well as being top quality and would appeal to the women of Bermuda.

He added: “Just come and ask me next year what we are planning for our next opening.”