Traffic into Bay Street is finally being measured and it's estimated that an average of 7,000 people a day visit the family entertainment complex in St George's Bay, which celebrates its fifth anniversary on Friday.
Right from its inception Bay Street preached a destination for all philosophy. Five years down the line, this philosophy remains.
Former general manager of the complex James Davis is glad to be back, this time in a new role as CEO.
"From the onset I wanted to bring about certain changes. When Bay Street was being built, I envied the man who would be at its helm. Now I am that man. I always wanted to come back. Being responsible for Bay Street is not just a job, it's a way of life," Mr Davis told The Sunday Times last week.
"Bay Street is unlike any other hotel, especially here in Malta, in the sense that we are also a shopping complex," Mr Davis said.
There are currently 60 outlets in Bay Street, many of which are owned by the same company or group of companies. The philosophy is to attract good brands, like Guess and Gas, McDonalds, Hard Rock Cafe, Adidas Brand Store, Naf Naf, Mexx, ECCO and others which are all conducive to the Bay Street philosophy. Outlets like French Connection and Calliope have opened last week. Other new retail and catering outlets, like Sunlab, The Chicken Hut, The Matrix, and Blend, will open shortly.
Mr Davis has a mission statement which he believes should be kept alive, "not something you'd print on a nice poster and hang on a wall, but should be what the company is basically all about."
Five areas crucial for the development of Bay Street emerge from Mr Davis' mission statement - customer satisfaction, innovation, responsibility, people participation and the quest for excellence. "These ensure that we are doing what we're meant to be doing for the benefit of all stakeholders," he said.
"For us it's important that Bay Street remains a destination for all. Because we are sensitive to our need to satisfy customer satisfaction, we must always ensure that the population present at Bay Street at any time feels comfortable with our product."
Mr Davis believes Bay Street's ultimate boss is the customer. Whether a 60-year-old woman or a 10-year-old child, the customer is the one who assists the organisation to grow. "So we must be sensitive to all to ensure the customer gets a good experience out of Bay Street, whether he comes here just to stroll around, shop or dine."
Good service and clean environment are also stressed. The day starts at 5 a.m. with the cleaning department getting Bay Street pristine before the outlets open at 10 a.m. Security officers are on constant watch to ensure a safe environment and maintenance teams on alert keep the place functioning.
From the start, Bay Street was a meeting point for youths aged between 10 and 14. Parents also drop off and pick up their children because they really believe that at Bay Street there is a safe environment.
"Customer satisfaction is a key factor to Bay Street's success. We're a community and whatever affects one outlet affects the whole complex. Unless the customer is happy he won't come back. The outlet depends on the customer and we depend on the outlet. This is a chain which mustn't be broken in any way," Mr Davis said.
Innovation is another key pillar. When Bay Street was created the concept of retail shopping in St Julian's was relatively innovative, especially by the shareholders who envisaged the project.
"Management remains loyal to this spirit of innovation and we must constantly think of ways to make Bay Street more and more innovative. We are managing to do this for the simple reason that every week there is something happening at Bay Street. We have created new events and made Bay Street a platform for companies to launch their products, for young artists to perform and show off their talents, and for an individual or organisation who has something of interest to a large audience," Mr Davis added.
"We are also innovative in the way we market the hotel. We're creating special interest packages to target various types of tourism and diversifying into such things as golfing tourism and romantic holidays at Bay Street. Other packages, including family fun, will be launched in February next year".
The Bay Street Website - www.baystreet.com - whereby a portal was created which incorporates Web pages for all Bay Street outlets and a section about the hotel, was also launched recently.
Mr Davis is a firm believer in win-win situations. "Unless it's a win-win situation no business can withstand the test of time. That is why we also believe in the need to be totally responsible at all times to ensure good governance in our dealings, whether with our internal customers, like the operators or tour operators who bring business to our hotel, or our employees and suppliers".
Bay Street is not an organisation which is here today and gone tomorrow. It's an organisation which needs to continue, to grow and become stronger for the benefit of all, the shareholder who has invested money, and the bondholder, employee and operator, Mr Davis said.
Mr Davis tries hard to instil his beliefs in all his staff whom he meets on a regular basis. He actually appraises everyone himself twice a year, whether from the maintenance, cleaning, security or housekeeping departments. Besides appraising them on an individual, one-to-one basis, Mr Davis meets his staff regularly in teams and departments.
He also believes that his role as CEO is that of a facilitator, giving opportunities to people who work with him to grow and enhance. "In this way I constantly seek to find ways how Bay Street can be a learning organisation - it's continually learning and passing on its knowledge to its people."
"Through people participation we also try and embrace a philosophy that there's a humane side to management," Mr Davis said. Staff must be motivated at all times and there are instances when you need to be autocratic and others when you must be democratic, sitting with staff and involving them when taking decisions. We try and instil an ownership culture. After all Bay Street is also their company. If Bay Street grows they grow, if it fails they fail.
When you ask the right question, the right answer usually appears, Mr Davis said. When he asks himself every morning: What can I do for Bay Street? There's this improvement that is brought about by the enthusiasm and the generation of new ideas that one is able to put in play. But this is only possible if Bay Street is kept alive. And it's the people who bring Bay Street to life. Bay Street is people.
bday at Bay Street
Usually bday is celebrated over a day. This year around 100 events will be spread over Friday, Saturday and Sunday so people get the chance to walk around and take a break in between events. The culmination is on Sunday with the cutting of Bay Street's birthday cake and Aldo Busuttil leaving his palm print on Celebrity Street, a new concept at Bay Street whereby every walkway around Bay Street will eventually bear a name.
Bday will open the Christmas season at Bay Street The management, together with Peppi Azzopardi, who has become synonymous with the Christmas campaign, will light up the tree, one of the biggest on the island, and launch the start of the Christmas campaign for the whole complex. All the events are in aid of a philanthropic cause - to raise funds for the Cystic Fibrosis Fund in the UK. Money will be in aid of research and development carried out by the fund, which is close to finding a cure.
Events on Friday (7 a.m.-8 p.m.) include dancing by the Msida Dance School and the Slovak Dancers, and fire eating and fencing shows. Song and dance shows featuring local and foreign artists will be held on Saturday from 2 p.m. to 9, together with other shows by animators, stilt walkers, clowns and Spiderman, and a BMX show.
Sunday will feature Ruth Cassingena and Stagecoach, Hoipolloi Panto Tarzan u Gejni, J.Anvil, a fashion show, the Carrie Fusion Band, Fabrizio Faniello, Ozzy Lino, a fashion show by Cut Coffieur, Tristan B, Freddie Portelli and Ira Losco. There will also be a falconry live exhibition, badger karting on the terrace, a table tennis tournament and animators.