The new outlet at the junction of Kenyatta Avenue and Moi Avenue becomes Naivas’ 43rd branch.
It is the first one to start from scratch as a 24-hour venture
Growth-hungry Naivas expects the new store to be its best-performing outlet in terms of contribution to the annual revenue.
Naivas Supermarkets opened its third 24-hour store in Nairobi’s central business district on Monday, two days ahead of plan in a rush to cash in on the Christmas shopping season.
The new outlet at the junction of Kenyatta Avenue and Moi Avenue becomes Naivas’ 43rd branch.
The other branches that are currently operating on a 24-hour basis are at the Mall in Westlands and Greenhouse branch on Ngong Road.
The two stores previously operated during normal hours and were converted to 24-hour operations a few months ago.
The new two-floor store, at the space vacated by top-tier Barclays Bank on October 1, will also operate 24 hours, Naivas chief commercial officer Willy Kimani said on phone.
It is the first one to start from scratch as a 24-hour venture given that the other two only converted into the new timings after operating during normal hours for a while.
Shop ready
“The shop was ready and we saw it wise to at least get it used because it is 24 hours,” he said.
“Having worked round the clock to make the shop complete, we opened it earlier.”
Renovation and partitioning works were still ongoing on the second floor early Monday afternoon.
“Those are shops by other players that are coming up there. These are third parties who have not been able to finish their bit, but we have given them up to Wednesday (today) to complete them,” said Mr Kimani.
The third-party players are footwear and fashion accessories giant Bata, laundry and dry cleaning firm Preferred Laundry and Fone Express.
The Naivas store is seeking to tap into largely underserved shoppers in the high footfall area, following the closure of rival Tusky’s Beba Beba branch on May 2.
Tuskys was forced to shut down one of its best-selling stores after a fallout with a new landlord who has since redeveloped the property into shopping and office stalls.
Growth-hungry Naivas expects the new store to be its best-performing outlet in terms of contribution to the annual revenue.
“This is a very strategic location. It will probably contribute at least 5.2 to 5.5 per cent to the top line. This probably will be one of the prime outlets, you know, one of the shops that are really up there,” Mr Kimani said in an earlier interview.
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