South African retailer Massmart Holdings has confirmed it is in talks to open its first store in Kenya.
Brian Leroni, a Massmart executive for corporate affairs, told just-food today (11 July) the retailer is in “an advanced stage of negotiations” with a shopping centre developer Actis to open a Game store in Nairobi, Kenya.
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Wal-Mart Stores owns a majority stake in Massmart, which is South Africa’s third-largest general retailer. It has around 36 stores outside of South Africa, many of those its Game discount retail stores. The stores sell general merchandise, FMCG products and non-perishable groceries.
The spokesperson did not give a timeline for the store opening in Kenya and said no further details could be provided until discussions with the developer had been concluded. However, he added: “Kenya is an attractive market, an important consideration has been to identify suitable store sites.”
Massmart has so far been slow in its African expansion, a year after Wal-Mart took a 51% stake in the South African retailer.
Last year, the combined Wal-Mart-Massmart entity said it was planning “significant new store openings” and aims to increase its food business by over 50% in the next five years
