South African retailer Game Stores has opened its third outlet in Kenya and its first outlet outside Nairobi. at Kisumu’s Mega City Mall, its first branch outside Nairobi. The new outlet anchors Mega City Mall, which also houses one of the few remaining Nakumatt stores.

The move is part of a defined expansion strategy for the South African retailer, which has prioritised opening stores in Kenya after years of having a single store in the country. Game first entered Kenya in 2015 with an outlet at Garden City Mall. In November 2017 it took over Nakumatt’s space at the Karen Waterfront mall.

Kisumu is becoming something of a battleground in the Kenyan supermarket sector – arguably the most competitive market outside Nairobi. It has branches of several chains including Chandarana, Tuskys, Naivas, Nakumatt, Choppies, Khetia Drapers, Tumaini as well as large independents such as Lemigo Dala (started by former Nakumatt employees) and Kibuye Matt.

At the end of 2018, Massmart had 47 stores in 12 countries outside SA. Up to 2021 it plans on opening 43 new stores, equivalent to a space growth of 2.5% CAGR. In February 2019 outgoing CEO Guy Hayward outlined plans to focus its expansion on two countries: Kenya and Zambia. Massmart plans to open a Builders Warehouse (Massmart’s building materials and appliances chain) in Nairobi in October 2019. In total it will open four stores, including the Builders Warehouse, in Kenya and five in Zambia. This new Kisumu store is one of the four new stores.

In 2018 Massmart opened several new stores in Ghana but as we have previously noted, through to 2021 it does not forecast opening a single new store in West Africa across any of its retail banners – all while rivals such as Shoprite, Spar, Pick n Pay and Carrefour are planning new stores in Nigeria.