Another major Kenyan supermarket chain is hitting on Malindi.
The opening of Naivas, the most important Kenyan supermarket chain and the only real national competitor of France's Carrefour, in the Malindi Oasis Mall on Lamu Road is official.
This is where the results of the bankruptcy of the country's first chain, Nakumatt, which had practically inaugurated the Malindi mall in December 2012, and then the interregnum of an obscure negotiation that was neither fish nor fowl, the Ocean Grocer, which lasted "l'espace d'un matin", and finally the Tuskys chain which did not perform badly but, as in the case of the Nakumatt, suffered the repercussions of reckless expansionism, slowly wearing out and closing its doors for good a year ago, on 4 October 2020.
Now, after a natural period of studying and waiting for the end of major pandemic restrictions, Naivas, which had already taken over the retail space of Tuskys in Kilifi and other premises left vacant by other retailers such as Uchumi and Shoprite, competing with Carrefour, is ready to open, probably as early as next October.
"The owners are already inside to carry out the adjustment work," the managers of Oasis Mall confirm to Malindikenya.net.
The company's sales manager, Willy Kimani, also confirmed to Business Daily:
"The other shops ready to open next month also include Malindi."
After rumours in recent months that the French multinational Carrefour, managed in Kenya by the Al Futtaim group of Dubai, was also interested, the chain born in Naivasha (hence the name, as Nakumatt recalled the nearby Nakuru) has preferred to play in advance.
The organisation in coastal and tourist towns such as Kilifi and Ukunda favours many local products but also has a strong focus on fresh produce (meat, cheese and even fish) and vegetables, which are also competitively priced compared to the market. A little more popular than Nakumatt and Tuskys, and perhaps for this reason able to conquer the Malindsian market, so used to moving between local shops, Italian importers and Indian convenience stores.
The new Naivas locations in the country are expected to bring the branch network to 78.