Having been born into an industrious family, whose varied business interests included a small store, a restaurant and a bar, young Alberts' enterprising spirit got its early nurturing from the daily chores assigned him to assist in the running of the familys' various commercial establishments, as well as those tasks normally associated with day-to-day household life at that time. In the former regard, cleaning fish for the family's' restaurant ranked high on his list of priority duties.
With very few motor vehicles in the settlement, Albert saw an opportunity to provide a service to other small store keepers in the area in getting merchandise, shipped from Nassau via the mail boat, to their respective business establishments. This he did by building a box cart in which he transported their goods from the mail boat to their stores for six pence (seven cents) or one shilling (14 cents) per delivery, given their size. Notwithstanding this extra undertaking, Albert still found time to do all of the other work assigned him in the family.
Unafraid of work, Alberts' industrious attitude soon saw him rise virtually from being a stevedore to the position of bag boy and stock clerk at the largest store on Eleuthera - The Market - a gigantic business establishment, that later on in his lifetime, as God would have it, he would eventually own.
It was obvious, at a very early age, that Albert possessed an insatiable hunger for knowledge. However, it was also at a time in our history when the suppression of secondary education from the masses was one of the ploys being used to perpetuate minority rule in this then British colony. Determined to overcome this barrier, Albert spent most of his spare time at the Manse, headquarters of the Methodist Church in Rock Sound, Eleuthera. There, he not only furthered his academic training, but also received an education about life itself from the various ministers and their families who stayed at that place.
In his late teens, Albert left The Market to pursue a new career with British American Insurance Company selling insurance, which afforded him the opportunity to travel throughout the length and breadth of the island, developing business relationships and life-long friendships . Although he quickly became a very successful agent in this new field, the magnetic pull of retailing, with the aspirations of eventually becoming an entrepreneur, however soon brought him back to the business holdings of American business tycoon, the late Juan Trippe at The Market, a division of what was then South Eleuthera Properties Ltd., the largest employer on the island.
Recognizing Alberts' business potential, the Trippe family made him manager of the retail division of their company, including The Market, which was moved in 1969 to its present location in The Market Place Shopping Centre. At age 24, Albert married the love of his life, the beautiful Claudia Nottage of Tarpum Bay. They had so much in common, especially a unique business acumen, which - as a team - they utilized to its successful maximum.
When Juan Trippe decided to sell his retail holdings, he offered these businesses to Albert and Claudia at preferential terms. On June 12th, 1976, the couple leased the real estate holdings, using all their savings to make the down-payment, and thereby establishing Rock Sound Properties (1976) Limited (RSP), of which Albert remained company president until his death on June 17th, 2005.
On Alberts' demise, Claudia became company President. She presently manages and operates the company holdings along with her three children, Chandra Sands, company comptroller, Thomas A. Sands Jr., licensed appraiser, broker and realtor and Christel Sands-Feaste, family attorney.