Troubled Nakumatt Supermarket shuts down three branches in Uganda
There seems to be no end in sight to the challenges facing retailing giant Nakumatt supermarket.
This past week, Kenya’s top supermarket chain shut down three of its branches in Uganda. It said this was “part of an ongoing restructuring process” initiated to stem extreme financial pressure.
The shutdown of the three branches was confirmed by Knight Frank Uganda, the property manager of the Acacia Mall, Village Mall and Victoria Mall, where the three Nakumatt stores were based.
“The three stores were closed last Wednesday and Nakumatt has since removed all their stock,” Marc du Toit, head of retail at Knight Frank Uganda explained.
This is the fourth Nakumatt branch to be closed in Uganda within the last six months and the fifth overall in the past year.
The first to be closed was the branch in Mbarara town, which led to a top Ugandan government official, who was housing the business, to sue the company over rent arrears.