Pick n Pay to set up first city store today

Business Reporter
TM Pick n Pay Supermarkets will today launch their first city store at the former Greatermans Department store along Sam Nujoma Street. The supermarket has been under construction for close to nine months since the closure of the Meikles Limited-owned Greatermans mid last year.

Amid rumours that the store would open as a 3-storey mega store, the store has been laid out as a supermarket on the ground floor with a floor space of approximately 1800 square metres, where customers will be able to get all their grocery requirements under one roof. The warehouse is housed in the basement of the building.

A total of 111 staff members will make up the team of the new store, headed by Mr Admore Tapfumaneyi, who is the former Branch Manager of TM Newlands. The bulk of the 111 employees were picked from various TM and Pick n Pay stores across the city with a few being new recruits.

Although customers will not have the convenience of a spacious parking area due to the store’s location in the CBD, foot traffic will be high considering this is the supermarket closest to the busy 4th Street Bus Terminus.

The supermarket becomes the first to be opened by the retail group this year after the re-opening of its Chinhoyi branch which was gutted by fire last year, the opening of a new look TM Orr Street and Kwekwe,rebranding of TM Gweru and TM Hyper in Bulawayo to Pick n Pay Gweru and Pick n Pay Hyper respectively and opening of Pick n Pay Msasa and Chivhu, all end of last year.

The TM supermarket chain is one of the leading food and grocery retail brands in Zimbabwe and currently comprises of a branch network of 53 stores countrywide, whose store formats range from convenient small supermarkets to hypermarkets.

The increase of supermarkets from 49 in March last year to 53, has increased trading space by about 10 percent.

The business also has Pick n Pay of South Africa as a shareholder with a 49 percent stake in a relationship that encompasses the sharing of technical expertise and sourcing of the much needed product brands from South Africa to compliment the Zimbabwean range in an effort to meet and exceed customer expectations.