Naivas opens first Nyeri branch

Corporate News

Naivas has taken up 62,000 square feet space in a new mall on Nyeri’s main street — Gakere Road. PHOTO | FILE 

By MUGAMBI MUTEGI

In Summary

• The new outlets in Nyeri will see Naivas’ nationwide store count climb to 39 after it opened others in Garissa and Kisumu.

Naivas Supermarket is Tuesday set to open its first of two branches in Nyeri, becoming the first of the top four retail chains to open shop in the central Kenya town.

The retailer has taken up 62,000 square feet space in a new mall on Nyeri’s main street — Gakere Road.

A new store is also set to open mid next month at a 12,000 square feet warehouse building which the retailer has secured on the outskirts of town targeting people using the Nyeri-Nyahururu highway.

Naivas will have no competition in the Nyeri from any of the top retailers since Nakumatt and Uchumi both overlooked it and set up shop in nearby Nanyuki and Karatina towns respectively.

“We are busy preparing to open the new stores giving people more shopping options during the festive period,” Willy Kimani, Naivas business development and marketing manager told the Business Daily.

He added that main retailers had previously considered Nyeri customers to have lower spending power than other nearby towns, “a situation that has now changed”.

Thika-based retailer Maathai Supermarket, which in September opened its first branch in Nairobi — is the main supermarket chain in Nyeri town, a near-monopoly which Naivas will be looking to break.

READ: Naivas to hire 450 employees for four new branches

Other smaller retailers operating in the town include Samrat Supermarket and Katsuri.

The Nyeri outlets will see Naivas’ nationwide store count climb to 39, a number made possible by several new stores in 2014, including maiden entries in Garissa and Kisumu.

The retailer recently opened an outlet in Githurai 45 and also plans to open a store in Bamburi and another in Kisumu (the second branch in the lakeside city) in the next couple of weeks.

Naivas, a family-owned business, last year overtook listed retailer Uchumi as the third-largest store by revenue behind Nakumatt and Tuskys respectively.

“We want to reach as many people as possible and enable more growth of our outlets both in areas we have operations including new frontiers,” Mr Kimani said in an earlier interview.