Shoprite has closed two stores in Angola, although the company says this is because its smaller supermarket format is not working and it still intends to keep opening larger stores in the country. In Kenya, Shoprite has closed its only Mombasa store, leaving just two Shoprite supermarkets in Kenya from an original plan of 7 when it first launched.
Shoprite has closed two of its smaller supermarkets in Angola’s capital, Luanda. Over the past three years, Shoprite has closed underperforming stores in Bela Vista, Lobito, Matala, Huila, and Porto Amboim, Kwanza-Sul. It means that Shoprite has 22 outlets in Angola.
The South African retailer suffered a further setback as its Cacuaco store in Luanda province recently suffered a fire, closing the store while the damage is repaired. According to local media, Shoprite still intends to open two supermarkets it has already built in Cabinda and Luena, Moxico.
Meanwhile in Kenya, Shoprite has closed its only store in Mombasa. Its City Mall store in Nyali is set to close at the end of August, meaning redundancies of 115 employees. The store only opened in August 2019.
It looks a lot like Shoprite will exit Kenya. As Trendtype has flagged, Shoprite has not opened the seven stores it first announced in February 2018, only opening four. It has now closed two of those stores at a time when rivals Naivas, Carrefour and Quickmart are expanding their networks.
Shoprite is not afraid to exit markets: it left Egypt in 2006, Zimbabwe and Tanzania in 2013, Mauritius in 2019 and now looks set to partially exit Nigeria.
There have been persistent rumours that Shoprite will exit Angola too. Like Nigeria, Angola’s economy is heavily oil dependent and its weak currency means Shoprite has taken losses when converted back into Rand. Also like Nigeria, Angola is a fairly hostile market for international retailers and although Shoprite has built a substantial national network in the country it has been heavy going. Trendtype believes that Shoprite will explore options like those in Nigeria – selling a majority stake to an Angolan partner while retaining a financial interest in its former network.
