J. Astaphan & Co. started as a small retail business which was established in 1933 by Joseph Astaphan. The present Chairman, Waddy Astaphan, joined the family business in 1942, and from the humble beginnings of retailing basic foods, the Company by 1941 very quickly expanded first into the exporting of dried vanilla beans, vegetables, cocoa and bay-oil etc. to other Caribbean Islands, North America and Europe, then into the Hardware, Textile, Appliance, Furniture and Automobile Trade, as well as becoming Ship’s Agents and Tour Operators.