South African retail giant, Massmart, is expected to make its entry in Kenya this May with the opening of the Sh23 billion Garden City shopping mall on Thika Road.

Interestingly, the supermarket will be sharing a roof with Kenyan retail heavyweight, Nakumatt, ushering in a fresh round of competition.

Two other local retail chains, Naivas and Uchumi, are located just a stone’s throw away from Garden City across the busy 12-lane highway.

Garden City will be joining Mountain Mall and Thika Road Mall, which are almost within sight of each other along the key city road.

Already, Nakumatt is running at Thika Road Mall, located just past Safari Park hotel. Listed retailer, Uchumi is right next to Mountain Mall, from where Naivas is doing business.

Massmart, whose biggest shareholder is US retail colossus Walmart, will be trading for its first time in Kenya.

This will mark its successful entry into Kenya after failed attempts in the past. Last year, Massmart’s talks to acquire a stake in Naivas failed, pushing it to consider setting up shop from scratch.

112 BOOKINGS

The Sh23 billion Garden City mall located on Nairobi’s Thika Road, about nine kilometres from the city centre, would open for business in May, this year, with at least 112 bookings already done.

The 50,000-square-metre mall, whose construction began less than two years ago, will comprise retail, office and residential units, ushering in the entry of major brands such as Massmart.

It will also house Nakumatt, Tile & Carpet Centre, Victoria Courts, coffee shops as well as restaurants.

According to Michael Turner, managing director of Actis, which is the developer, the first phase comprising of 33,000 square metres of space, will be opened on May 28.

“We are confident that the scale and quality of this project is something that hasn’t been seen before in East Africa. We are very proud of what we have built so far, and excited to open our doors in May,” Mr Turner noted.

Massmart is marking its entry into Kenya just about the same time when French retailers, Carrefour has also booked space in the upcoming Two Rivers mall, in Runda.

The retail giants have trained their eyes on a fast growing middle class segment in Kenya.

Construction work on Two Rivers mall is to be completed later this year paving the way for entry of Carrefour, a Majid Al-Futtaim-owned retailer.