I visited the Garden City Mall along Thika road over the weekend to check whether Shoprite supermarket had made its entry into the mall, as 2018 ticked away, after keeping shoppers hoping with their ‘coming soon’ banner but it seemed a year is not soon enough for ShopRite.
Game supermarket was the next and only option, as it is the only operational supermarket at the mall. Arrangement and lack of enough personnel had previously taken away my shopping appetite. Well, Game Supermarket has changed and credit must be given.
Despite lack of competition at the mall, Game has taken some tremendous steps to ensure not only my shopping appetite is back but I can swipe my Co-op Visa card and input my PIN without having to worry somebody will steal my PIN.
Safaricom has always insisted to me that my PIN is my Secret and my other darling, Co-op, whose visa card I so treasure, has not spared any words in emphasizing the same. Game supermarket now understands that customers get very uncomfortable whenever they need to input their PIN and they have created space to ensure there very minimal people around the counter.
At Game supermarket in Garden City Mall, customers now queue at a distance and approach the counter one by one, a replica of what is done in banks. Why did it take so long for any supermarket to do this in protecting their customer’s PIN, which we all know in one time or the other has been costly? Well, Game has set up the pace and it is now up to other supermarkets to take up the challenge. Speaking of which, where is the customer’s voice in all this?
In the meantime, Shoprite might as well bring down their outdated banner and allow other retailers to use the space, previously used by Nakumatt, in providing services and employment opportunities to Kenyans.