19th June, 2012
Africa’s leading supermarket, Shoprite, has concluded plans to open an ultra-modern 3,853 square metre store within the newly built Grand Towers Mall in Abuja on Thursday 21 June, 2012.
The brand has made its presence felt in key cities across Nigeria with Lagos boasting of three stores—Lekki, Surulere, Ikeja and Enugu since 2005.
According to the store promoters, the 3,853m2 store which is located in the Grand Towers Mall overseeing the Abuja Business District, can be compared in size to the one located in the Palms Shopping Mall, Lekki, Lagos; and it is said to be the first of many planned for the capital city. The centre which is approximately 10,00m2 of build-up area plays host to other A-list companies such as KFC and Spur anchoring the Food Court.
Speaking to our reporter on the planned commissioning, Mr. Jan Van Zyl, representing Shoprite Properties said: “Shoprite has had an excellent working relationship with this developer and as a result, Shoprite is planning doing many more similar projects with Novare throughout Nigeria and other West African countries.”
With the new store in place, Shoprite would be contributing to the socio-economic development of the FCT and the nation as a whole.
The Human Resources Manager for Shoprite Nigeria, Adeola Kagho, said that “each store provides approximately 200 direct and 50 indirect jobs and when summed with the total number of stores in the country, one can say that Shoprite has created an environment for over 1,200 jobs”.
She restated that Shoprite is not only creating employment, but has also invested so much in training and personnel development.
With more than half of its product procured from local farmers and suppliers, the entry of Shoprite into Abuja will be a boost to farmers within the northern zone.
Shoppers are also assured of fresh and quality products, packaged to standard.
Shoprite came to Nigeria in December 2005, with the opening of a Shoprite store at the Palms Shopping Centre in Lekki, Lagos. They restructured their operations to accommodate the expansion strategy in Nigeria by appointing Nigerian managers to handle its operations. Shoprite also kept its promise to offer the best shopping experience, quality customer service, best prices and the creation of more jobs with the opening of stores in Surulere, Enugu, Ikeja and Ilorin.
In the last two years, Shoprite has donated over N4 million to different charities and NGOs in the country through its Corporate Social Responsibility initiative tagged “Help change a life.”