OK Mart starts operations

last week under the OK Mart brand.
The two shops, in Harare and Bulawayo, consist of a combined 8 000 square metres of trading floor.
The Competition and Tariff Commission approved the acquisition of Makro Zimbabwe at the end of February 2011. The new brand stores open following a re-branding campaign.
OK Zimbabwe chief executive, Mr Willard Zireva, said they had retained Makro employees for OK Mart.
“We have also assumed the employment of over 200 workers which enables us to retain key skills in the business and ensure job security for others,” he said.
The re-branding work undertaken at the former Makro stores is an additional project to the refurbishment work already being undertaken in various OK outlets.
The refurbishments are a continuation of the work started in 2010 where the company rebuilt OK Masvingo which was gutted by fire in 2007, refurbished OK Kwekwe and rebranded OK Second Street Extension to Bon Marche Belgravia last November and December respectively.
The company plans to have Avonlea, Queensdale and Chiredzi refurbished by next year. OK Marimba is also lined up for refurbishment.
“These efforts position the company favourably against competition,” said Mr Zireva.
The re-branded Makro Stores, now called OK
Mart, have in excess of 25,000 product lines which the company anticipates will increase within a short space of time.
OK Mart has at least 20 departments, including sport, outdoor and camping, hi-tech, butchery, clothes and textiles, DIY, stationery and general groceries.
The re-branded stores also have coffee shops and the Harare outlet boasts of 300 bays of parking space.
Zimbabwe Stock Exchange-listed OK is one of the country’s leading supermarket chains, operating 49 shops covering in excess of 74 000 square metres of retail trading floor.