Personal and household merchandise retailer China Square has opened a 75,000 square-foot outlet at Two Rivers Mall in Nairobi as part of its expansion in the country.
The Two Rivers outlet is China Square’s sixth in the country, with the company looking to open more branches.
The retailer made its debut with a first outlet at Kenyatta University’s Unicity Mall in 2022, attracting immediate public attention for its low prices.
It has since established outlets at The Waterfront Mall in Karen, Lang’ata Hyper Mall, Nyali Bazaar Mall in Mombasa and Mega City Mall in Kisumu.
China Square is also scheduled to open its seventh store at Greenspan Mall in Donholm next week.
“Two Rivers is one of the biggest malls in Kenya and has a lot of potential and has good parking,” said China Square Managing Director Lei Cheng.
Mr Lei added that the retailer is scouting other locations to open new outlets, especially outside Nairobi.
China Square found itself in a hot spot in early 2023 due to its low prices, which drew opposition from traders and a section of the political class.
China Square joins other major retailers in the Two Rivers mall, notably French multinational Carrefour.
The entry of China Square has boosted the mall's occupancy rate to 95 percent, said James Mworia, the CEO of Centum Investments Company Plc, one of the owners of the property.
Mr Mworia said the entry of the retailer will help increase foot traffic in the mall, which will help grow sales for other businesses within the shopping complex.
“The occupancy rate within the mall with the entry of China Square is now above 95 percent. This space was 10 percent of the mall so it has increased the occupancy from 85 percent,” said Mr Mworia.
Centum also recently welcomed French services and call centre firm Teleperformance to its Two Rivers International Finance & Innovation Centre (Trific) Special Economic Zone (SEZ).
Trific was given an SEZ licence in June 2023. It sits on 64 acres, which is more than half of Two Rivers’ 106-acre development area.
