Quickmart Opens New Branch As Retailers Complain of Harsh Economy

Retailers have been closing shops for the last half a decade and complaining of a harsh economic environment but NOT QuickMart Supermarket which has opened a new branch, again.

The new Quickmart Supermarket branch will officially be opened on the 27th of February 2020 in Roysambu, Nairobi County.

The retailer is targeting the growing middle class and working-class market which is largely what comprises Roysambu.

Quickmart supermarket merged with Tumaini Supermarket in 2019 which boosted it to become Kenya’s third-largest retailer.

The retailer has since been working to rebrand all former Tumaini branches to QuickMart since the merger is now fully operationalized which took effect on 1st January 2020.

In November, QuickMart opened a branch in Ongata Rongai and Mountain mall along Thika road and promised that it would open six new outlets in 2020.

Quickmart Roysambu will operate on a 12-hour basis and will be retailing fruits and vegetables, deli, bakery, butchery, and cereals.

The new Roysambu outlet is expected to also be retailing liquor, electronics, and furniture.

There are other Quickmart stores in Ruaka, Ruiru, Thika Road, Lavington, Hurlingham, and Rongai. Four Quickmart stores operate on a 24-hours basis while the rest operate on a 12-hour basis.

Wholesale and retail trade is the fifth-largest contributor to Kenya’s GDP and the third-largest contributor to private sector employment.

In 2016, wholesale and retail trade employed 238,500 Kenyans and accounted for 8.4 percent of Kenya’s GDP.

According to Nielsen, leading global information, and measurement company, shifting consumer trends have driven growth in formal retail, with 30 percent of the Kenyan population now shopping informal retail establishments compared to 4 percent in Ghana and 2 percent in Cameroon and Nigeria.

This is the second-highest in Sub-Saharan Africa after South Africa, which has a formal retail penetration of 60 percent.

The Kenyan economic environment is considered to be unfriendly to local investors which makes it difficult for them to remain afloat.

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