Shoprite to open a fourth store at Victoria Mall


For a retailer that has been measured on expanding in Uganda, Shoprite seems to have discovered something about Nakumatt’s former locations.

The South African retail chain will open its fourth store at Victoria Mall in Entebbe, according to a statement by Knight Frank, the property’s manager. The announcement comes just a week after Knight Frank announced that Shoprite is going to open a third store in Acacia Mall at the start of next year.

Read More: Shoprite is moving into the space vacated by Nakumatt at Acacia Mall

Until recently, Nakumatt was the tenant in the anchor spots at the two malls. But it was forced out as its financial crisis grew in magnitude and its creditors closed in.

At this stage, Shoprite is expected to open the Victoria Mall store in early 2018, Marc Du Toit, Knight Frank Uganda’s head of retail, said. But the property manager is optimistic that it could start operating before the Christmas shopping season.

“The expansion into Victoria Mall is part of Shoprite’s group’s strategy to expand its footprint within the African countries it already operates in as well as new territories before expanding to other markets globally,” the Knight Frank Uganda statement said.

Shoprite opened its Ugandan store in 2000 at Ben Kiwanuka Street. The store at Lugogo Mall, its second, was opened in 2004. A third, opened at the Metroplex Shopping Mall in Nalya in 2011, closed in 2015.

Victoria Mall, which has a gross leasable area of 19,197 square meters, was opened in 2013, with Nakumatt moving into the 3,200 square feet anchor space soon after.