Nakumatt Closes Its Prestige Branch, Naivas Takes Over

Nakumatt Supermarket has closed down its Prestige Mall outlet earlier last week with their competitors Naivas taking over the vacuum and glowing over the once big Supermarket in the East Africa Region. This follows two branches in Lavington and Kisumu which were indefinitely closed with Naivas Supermarket keen on occupying one of the spaces left by the once big giant retailer.

Financial crisis is said to be the reason why Nakumatt is closing down the shops. The management of Nakumatt has been silent in the matter at hand (shut down of the Supermarket outlets). Naivas has been taking over spaces formerly leased to Nakumatt particularly in Mombasa and Nairobi. The recent take over brings down the total number of Naivas Outlets to fifty eight around the country. Other spaces taken over include the outlet on Moi Avenue in Nairobi and Likoni Branch in Mombasa.

Last year June saw Nakumatt kicked out of Rwanda’s Kigali City Tower after failing to pay rent for ten straight months, resulting into 80 workers losing their jobs. In Uganda as well the retailer was removed due to failure to pay rent for a year. Its Uganda branch was subsequently closed in a move also linked to accumulating rent arrears. The only remaining Nakumatt stores are now in Nairobi: Mega (Mombasa Road) and Highridge (Parklands) as well as Nakuru (Westside mall).

Nakuru is where the retailer opened its first branch but it remains unclear for how long the Westside outlet will remain in operation. In September 2019, court findings indicated that Nakumatt owed suppliers,  manufacturers and Landlords an estimated Ksh 40 billion the suppliers.