Pick n Pay Bring the heat
Things are hotting up in Zimbabwe, and no, we are not referring to global warming, which all right-thinking people know is a daft conspiracy theory cooked up, if you’ll excuse the pun, by people who hate big oil companies and the hilariously outmoded internal combustion engines which feed them. We are of course talking about retail, with Pick n Pay opening its first store in Kamfinsa at the end of June and rebranding some of the TM Supermarkets they acquired with their investment in Kingdom Meikles, which by the way is having a toughish year, losing $3.1million US despite the buoying effects of Pick n Pay on their retail offering. Competitor OK Zimbabwe, a listed retailer, is girding its loins in the meantime, having expanded since it raised US$10 million a couple years back for capital projects, with 44 OK stores now trading, seven Bon Marche stores and two OK Mart stores, for a locally grand total of 53 outlets.
Comment: And the shelves beginning to fill up nicely everywhere, we are told.