Nakumatt to close Haile Selassie branch as part of ‘restructuring’
Nakumatt will closed down its Haile Selassie branch as part of cost cutting strategy to save Sh1.5 billion annually.
Nakumatt Holdings Managing Director, Atul Shah, confirmed the struggling Nakumatt Haile Selassie branch located at KU Plaza, will revert back to Kenyatta University, by the end of this month; at the expiry of the current lease.
The closure of Nakumatt Haile Selassie will be the third closure to be undertaken by the retailer in recent months following similar developments at its former Nakumatt Ronald Ngala and Nakumatt Katwe in Nairobi CBD and Kampala, Uganda respectively.
The firm, Shah added, has also adopted a group wide freeze on new staff signings, opting to absorb and progressively deploy staff from recently closed branches to its existing and upcoming outlets.
COST CUTTING
All the employees previously assigned to work at Nakumatt Ronald Ngala have already been absorbed at other Nairobi branches.
Staff members currently serving at Nakumatt Haile Selassie, will be absorbed at other Nakumat branches ahead of their re-deployment to upcoming branches including, Nakumatt Embakasi at the new Southfield Mall.
Alongside management enhancement programmes and specific cost cutting interventions, the new strategy, Shah said, will see the firm reducing its store keeping unit (SKU) exposure by retaining frequently purchased items and delisting slow moving products.
The firm, he added, will also effect a strategic branch culling exercise targeting several of its poorly performing branches in Kenya and Uganda as part of the cost cutting strategy.
The branch culling exercise, Shah explained will also involve the opening of new branches at carefully selected high traffic locations.
