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Supermarkets are one of the best things which came in the last century said the American Ambassador Ashley Wills who was the Chief Guest at the opening ceremony of the Sathosa A grade supermarket at Rajagiriya.

Wills said that as a child he had asked his 85-year-old grandma who outlived the American Civil War about the most important developments and inventions which took place during her lifetime where she had replied they were the supermarket and the air-condition. "The supermarkets liberated women from the household chaos as it made it possible for them to shop much more quickly so they could do other things in life including getting jobs in the workforce", Wills said.

The Ambassador said that his first job was also at a supermarket, which he found at the age of 15 in his hometown Atlanta, Georgia.

Wills and the IMF's resident representative Jeremy Carter were the chief invitees at the opening ceremony of the supermarket, which was the fourth in a series of A grades, including those at Welisara, Jawatte and Sir James Peiris Mawatha Colombo 2.

Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Ravi Karunanayake said that the commercialisation of the Sathosa Retail Ltd. would be completed within the next two months.

He said that the commercialisation would make way for proper partnerships to strengthen the Sathosa's line of businesses and added that there are plans to make it a conglomerate.

The Minister said that the management and the board of directors of Sathosa took some hard decisions to diversify interests and move away from just buying and selling and to venture into value added services. Karunanayake said that he salutes the staff of the CWE for keeping confidence in the restructuring process, Sathosa plays a social responsible role in this country, he said.

IMF Representative to Sri Lanka said that the World Bank is more interested in the penetration of supermarkets in the country, which is a fine indication of the commitment by the government and its officials to the free market economy. He said that supermarkets make the country's retail industry more efficient and added that they provide the best possible deals for the supplier and consumer.

The new supermarket has a host of features including the facilities of banking, laundry, internet and telephone, a pastry shop and instant printing shop.

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