Nakumatt closes yet another branch in Nairobi

Troubled retailer Nakumatt Supermarket has announced the closure of its branch at Westgate Mall in Westlands, Nairobi.

In a notice issued on Saturday, Nakumatt announced the Westgate branch will be closed from Sunday, October 8 “until further notice”.

This comes barely a week after directors and managers of The Junction Mall closed down a Nakumatt branch at the premises.

Nakumatt, however, obtained orders from the High Court blocking Junction Limited from effecting the closure until an inter partes hearing is held on October 16, 2017.

In its submission before Justice Joseph Onguto, Nakumatt accused The Junction Mall owners of using deceit and trickery to illegally close the outlet by posting a misleading public notice indicating that Nakumatt had surrendered its tenancy.

“The Junction Mall’s underhand actions on Saturday night, including locking the branch and publicising a fraudulent and misleading notice claiming that the premises have been surrendered by Nakumatt, are clearly contrary to the terms of the Agreement, illegal and of utmost bad faith,” Nakumatt MD Atul Shah stated in his affidavit.

The cash-strapped family-owned chain of supermarkerts has so far had to close its Thika Road Mall (TRM) branch and the NextGen Mall outlet on Mombasa Road.

The closure at The Junction became the third in a span of just a few months.

Nakumatt is struggling with a debt burden of about Ksh 30 billion.