Retailer Carrefour Kenya has opened its 12th branch in Nairobi at Westgate Mall, Westlands area.
The new 50,000-square-feet store will serve residents of Westlands, Parklands and the larger Thigiri area, bringing services closer to customers by adopting the Carrefour Market model.
The store was last occupied by Shoprite when it opened its doors in the Kenyan market for trading replacing Nakumatt at the Westgate Mall in 2018.
“As we continue to grow and expand our presence in Nairobi, we remain committed to addressing our customers’ needs effectively by offering convenient and unbeatable shopping experiences,” Franck Moreau, Country Manager said.
He said the new store would employ 200 people.
The store will also introduce several digital services. The shopping delivery, or “Valet trolley” will give customers the chance to shop and have their goods ready for collection at the store.
It will be interesting to observe how the retailer will balance its return on investment because the new store is a few meters apart from its Sarit Centre outlet.
“The taking up of space left by troubled retailers such as Nakumatt, and the continued expansion by local and international retailers are expected to cushion the retail sector, however, we expect the trend towards online shopping to continue affecting uptake of physical space whose oversupply in the Kenyan retail market currently stands at 2.0 mn SQFT,” Cytonn Investments says.
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We have updated paragraph 1, we had written “French retailer”. The correct information is that: Carrefour was launched in the region in 1995 by UAE-based Majid Al Futtaim, which is the exclusive franchisee to operate Carrefour in over 30 countries across the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, and fully owns the operations in the region.
