The eviction follows a court order by Mombasa Court that also ordered the supermarket to pay all outstanding balances and payments accrued at the date of eviction/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 7 – Troubled Nakumatt supermarket has been thrown out from the City Mall in Mombasa over a Sh27.8 million debt.
Police and auctioneers have evicted staff and removed goods worth millions from the store over unpaid rent, service charges and unpaid promotion fees.
The eviction follows a court order by Mombasa Court that also ordered the supermarket to pay all outstanding balances and payments accrued at the date of eviction.
Last year the retailer shut close to a dozen branches that includes the Westgate branch, Junction Mall , Thika Road Mall, NextGen Mall and Haile Selassie branch that was located at the Kenyatta University Plaza and Ronald Ngala branch.
It also closed a branch in Uganda that had accumulated rent arrears estimated at about Sh8.5 million.
As part of the recovery plan, the Nakumatt Administrator Peter Kahi recently announced the appointment of Tusker Mattresses Limited as the new Managers for the regional retailer.
The appointment, subject to regulatory approvals earlier sought, will see Tusker Mattresses Ltd assume the operations management aspects for Nakumatt as the firm’s recovery efforts gain steam.
With the appointment, Tusker Mattresses will provide strategic management support and related retail operations back up to the Administrator under stringent performance terms and conditions.
In January 2018, new administrator Kahi expressed optimism that the retailer is on a path to recovery.
Kahi confirmed that ongoing plans to maintain the business through a supplier partnership model are now on course.
Kahi has asked suppliers and shoppers to continue providing their support as efforts to formulate a rescue plan gets underway.
“In the short term, what we are doing is a consignment sales stock basis which basically means that if we don’t sell your products, you can pick your stock. If we sell, we pay you within 7 or 14 days depending on how the products are moving,” said Kahi.
He said plans to restock up to 20 Nakumatt branches by next month had been drawn up.
Such restocking, he noted, will provide an avenue to grow customer traffic in the branches and much-needed revenue.
