Choppies has signed a tenancy deal in what will see it become the first to open shop in Kiambu of the five big retailers.
Nakumatt was poised to be the anchor tenant at the Sh500 million shopping mall coming up in the county headquarters.
The mall, whose other tenants include Java, Nairobi Hospital, Ashleys, Vivo, and Commercial Bank of Africa, is scheduled for opening late August.
Botswana retailer Choppies is set to open a new outlet in Kiambu Mall in August, taking up space that was previously allocated to market leader Nakumatt Supermarkets.
Choppies, which entered the country by taking over several Ukwala stores in early 2016, has signed a tenancy deal in what will see it become the first to open shop in Kiambu of the five big retailers.
Nakumatt, which is going through financial difficulty that has seen it close some branches, was poised to be the anchor tenant at the Sh500 million shopping mall coming up in the county headquarters.
“Nakumatt is reorganising its business and I requested them to cancel our agreement in favour of Choppies who will now be our anchor tenant,” said Peter Burugu, the managing director of Mugaa Investments which is building the mall.
The mall, whose other tenants include Java, Nairobi Hospital, Ashleys, Vivo, and Commercial Bank of Africa, is scheduled for opening late August.
Vijay Kumar, Choppies East Africa’s executive director, said the upcoming Kiambu store is part of the retailer’s expansion plan which will the business open “40 new stores over five years.”
Choppies has presence in eight countries including South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. It has 10 stores in the country having taken over the latest Ukwala store last week.
The retail chain plans to open five outlets at Diamond Plaza (Parklands), Signature Mall (Molo), Spur Mall (Ruiru) and another one in Diani by the end of this year and three more by mid-2018.
“Our intention is to have hyper and express signature stores that stock local as well as offer international brands that are currently unavailable in the market,” Mr Kumar told the Business Daily in an interview.
“Each of the new stores will cost us approximately Sh200 million to fit out and fully stock. We will also refurbish all the Ukwala stores to fit this new model and look.”
Despite Kiambu being one of Kenya’s richest counties, none of the country’s leading retailers has set up in its administrative capital, creating room for small players like Kamindi, Selfridges, Smart Home and Twiga supermarkets.
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