Business
Choppies Stores Are Shutting Down Across The Country
Choppies supermarket has shut down its Kiambu town branch just days after the retailer closed the Bungoma outlet.
The Botswana owned retail stores were closed owing to stock shortage and debts.
The Kiambu Mall developer in 2017 picked Choppies as the anchor tenant dropping also collapsing former market giants Nakumatt Supermarkets.
The developer said that was arrived at due to financial difficulties around Nakumatt, a similar fate now suffered by the Botswana retail chain.
Early last year audit reports after closure of debtridden Uchumi and Nakumatt revealed massive revenue losses adjudicating to infighting at the management level, as it is with Choppies Management in Botswana.
The retail’s other outlets across the country are also dangling with empty shelves.
Kisumu, Nanyuki, Embakasi and Mombasa road branches are at the edge of closure.
Chopies has six, all struggling, branches in Kisumu city and eight others spread across Nakuru, Kisii and Kericho.
“Choppies workers have not been paid in full to date. They have also failed to pay suppliers for a while now and this explains the closure of some branches and empty shelves on others. The supermarket is now dealing with similar issues faced by Nakumatt and Uchumi,” said Kenya Union of Commercial, Food and Allied Workers (KUCFAW) Secretary General, Bonface Kavuva.
Choppies are barely 4 years old, they ventured into the country by taking over Ukwala Supermarkets in 2016.
Choppies troubles blew up in 2018 when Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) and Johannesburg Stock Exchange halted the trading of its shares over the retail’s failure to release financial results for the year ended 30 June 2018.
The retailer has since been facing innumerable challenges with the latest being the suspension of its CEO Ramachandran Ottapathu.
Earlier in March, the board announced that the company would embark on legal and forensic investigations and would follow its recommendations which saw Ramachandran fired in May.
Choppies operations are currently in seven African countries.
The retailers stores operating in the new markets are down to 212 from 260.
Kenya Insights allows guest blogging, if you want to be published on Kenya’s most authoritative and accurate blog, have an expose, news TIPS, story angles, human interest stories, drop us an email on [email protected] or via Telegram
US Denied Visas to Team Officials for World Cup – Iran
Why Drivers Cheered Bolt’s Reported Exit: Inside the Slow Financial Strangulation of Thousands of Kenyan Drivers and Riders in Kenya
Court Halts NTSA Smart Driving Licence Rollout and Instant Traffic Fines: What This Means
Pentagon Raises Israel Spy Threat To Highest Level: Report
NIS Officer Found Dead Inside Locked House in Nyamira
‘He Stole My Car and Threatened My Life’: Australian Woman Accuses Ex-MP Farah Maalim in Bitter Divorce and Succession Battle
House Helps to Earn Minimum Salary of Sh18,047 Under New Law, Employers Who Refuse Face Jail
Inside The Urban Planning Cartel That Owns Nairobi
Absa Bank Kenya: The Lender That Declares War On Its Own Clients
Putin Rejects Zelensky Meeting Proposal
Why Ruto’s Favourite Candidate Adan Mohammed Could Be Locked Out of the KRA Top Job
Cement, Cash and Courts: How the Hashu Dynasty Crushed the Ramji Brothers for Fourteen Years and Why the Walls Are Now Closing In
LifeCare on the Brink: SHA Fraud, Stolen Wages, and the Rotten Empire Jayesh Saini Built
Este Medical Kenya Fights American’s Explosive Complaints
Safaricom’s Sh1.4 Billion Reckoning: How Kenya’s Most Profitable Company Stole a Man’s Idea and Got Caught
The Rot Inside Absa: How Bank Insiders Are Looting Nairobi’s Customers
THE INSURER THAT TOOK YOUR PREMIUM AND FORGOT YOUR NAME: How ICEA Lion Left a Client Begging for Sh7.8 Million Across Four Months
Denial Under Duress: The Untold Collapse Threatening David Lagat’s DL Group’s Empire
Inside FAFSA Fraud: How Kenyan Cybercriminals Siphoned Millions from America’s Sh12 Billion Student Loan System
Court Confirms Safaricom Customers Data Was Sold To Betting Companies In Seven-Year Cover-Up
-
Investigations2 days agoCement, Cash and Courts: How the Hashu Dynasty Crushed the Ramji Brothers for Fourteen Years and Why the Walls Are Now Closing In
-
Investigations2 weeks agoLifeCare on the Brink: SHA Fraud, Stolen Wages, and the Rotten Empire Jayesh Saini Built
-
News2 weeks agoEste Medical Kenya Fights American’s Explosive Complaints
-
Americas2 weeks agoInside FAFSA Fraud: How Kenyan Cybercriminals Siphoned Millions from America’s Sh12 Billion Student Loan System
-
Investigations5 days agoBetika Faces DCI Probe, Directors Arrest and License Revocation Over Massive 29.5 Million Safaricom Customers’ Data Breach
-
News1 week agoEight Students Arrested In Kenya After Suspected Deadly School Arson Attack
-
News6 days agoHow Uhuru’s Deal With Obama In 2015 Paved Way For America’s Ebola Plan In Kenya
-
Investigations2 weeks agoLSK On The Spot For Renewing Rogue Lawyer Dennis Onyango’s Licence Despite Mounting Evidence He Held Foreign Investors’ Millions Hostage