Naivas, Cleanshelf open new branches in Nakuru as rivals exit

Retail chains Naivas and Cleanshelf have taken over space vacated in Nakuru town by Tuskys and Ukwala respectively, heightening the competition for shoppers in the Rift Valley town.

The two new stores are located on Nakuru’s Kenyatta Avenue, the town’s main street and a prime shopping area.

Naivas’ new store is its fourth in the town, while Cleanshelf’s branch is its first in Nakuru, and 12th overall.

Fellow retailers WoolMart and QuickMart have two branches each in Nakuru while homegrown Gilanis has maintained its only branch.

Workers were on Friday and Saturday putting final touches at the new Naivas branch ahead of opening in coming weeks, while Cleanshelf opened its doors to the public on April 9.

The opening of the new branches is good news to suppliers in the town, who had lost out on business following the closure of Tuskys and Ukwala supermarkets. Some of the employees who had lost their jobs have also expressed hope that they will be offered new opportunities in the new branches.

"We expect that they will employ our youth while local traders will also reap as they will have another opportunity to supply fresh produce and locally made merchandise," said Mr David Kabutu, a resident of Nakuru town.

The Tuskys branch along the town’s Kenyatta Avenue shut its doors in January, the last out of the four in the town where the chain was founded in the 1980’s.

Naivas also took over the premises vacated by yet another collapsed retailer- Nakumatt- at the Nakuru West Side mall in 2019.

Nakumatt, just like Naivas and Tuskys, traced its roots to Nakuru. It launched its operations trading initially as Nakuru Mattresses before its expansion to other towns and the regional countries.