KENYA – Naivas Supermarket, Kenya’s largest locally owned retail store has opened its 72nd branch store in Eldoret, West of Kenya, increasing its supply in the local retail space.

The new store is located at Zion Mall along Ronald Ngala street, previously occupied by Tuskys supermarket.

The retail chain previously had two branches in Eldoret town, one in the market area, Naivas Sokoni and Naivas at Langas stage. The Zion mall branch makes them three in the vicinity.

“The opening of our new store in Eldoret underscores our commitment to offering great customer experiences through high-quality retail outlets where customers can access quality products at the best prices,” said Chief Commercial Officer, Mr Willy Kimani.

“We are here today launching our 72nd branch out of our target of 77 this year.”

Chief Commercial Officer – Mr Willy Kimani

He added that the new store will offer variety of commodities that will make the residents of Uasin Gishu county have all their needs attended to under one roof and in different locations within the town.

Mr Kimani noted that Naivas has been doing exemplary well in Uasin Gishu compared to other counties and the need to expand the third branch was to maintain best service delivery.

“We are here today launching our 72nd branch out of our target of 77 this year.  We are very much informed about the market pattern and to say confidently, it is a well calculated and thought-out plan that I believe will survive for subsequent years,” he explained.

The store will stock food and non-food items and unique specialty offerings such as a milk ATM, in addition to the groceries, fresh bakery, and a deli section.

The chain has employed 120 staff and an additional 30 support staff.

“It is in our best interest to be in Uasin Gishu creating job opportunities especially for our youths whose source of income have been ravaged during this Covid-19 pandemic period,” Mr Willy noted.

Shoprite Group continues to grow its solar-powered fleet

Meanwhile, the Shoprite Group will be adding 39 solar-powered refrigerated rigid trucks to its existing solar-powered fleet of 749 trailers by the end of June 2021.

At present, the Group has a total fleet of 855 trucks and 1 247 trailers of which 749 are solar-powered trailers (473 are refrigerated trailers and 276 units are not refrigerated, but the tail lift is powered by solar energy).

The group has 89 rigid trucks with diesel powered refrigeration of which 8 are solar powered (for the tail lift only).

It is the first time that Shoprite is adding solar-powered nitrogen refrigerated rigid trucks to its fleet – this is also a first in Africa.

The non-solar-powered trailers in the fleet are traditional diesel-powered refrigerated trailers, with the diesel-powered cooling unit situated at the front of the unit.

Solar-powered units have been deployed in the group’s fleet since 2017, in an effort to reduce the company’s carbon footprint.

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