Thu Jun 24 12:21:00 UTC 2004
Shoprite, the largest supermarket group on the African continent, opened its second world-class supermarket in Uganda on Thursday, 24 June, after investing over USD 8 million to build a Shoprite shopping centre in the suburb Lugogo in Kampala. His Excellency, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, the President of Uganda, officially opened the new Lugogo Mall shopping centre.
The shopping centre renders 12 380 sqm of lettable space and 570 fenced-in secure parking bays in the city. It houses the Shoprite supermarket, as well as a Game store with 1 700 sqm of line shops, accommodating Uganda’s four biggest bank brands, cellular phone shops, a pharmacy, an optometrist, a coffee shop and a Ugandan craft store.
Mr. Whitey Basson, Chief Executive of the Shoprite Group, said at the successful opening of the new Lugogo Mall shopping centre that he is proud to strengthen the group’s investment in Uganda following the success of it’s first supermarket in Kampala’s city centre.
“Our presence has given Ugandan consumers access a wide range of local and imported products at the lowest prices. We are also delighted to be able to create jobs and contribute in a tangible way to the economy of Uganda.”
The Shoprite group is firmly entrenched as the largest food retailer in Africa, with operations now comprising 692 stores in 15 countries employing 66 000 employees.
The world-class Shoprite supermarket is stocked with a wide range of quality products at the lowest prices employing over 100 Ugandan citizens. A large percentage of products sold in the store are sourced locally.
The Shoprite group also procures from Uganda’s biggest producers of soap powders and oils, Mukwano, to the country’s smallest supplier of honey, Kusoro. To promote local fisheries, the new supermarket also features a fresh fish deli, which stocks amongst other species, Nile perch and Tilapia, sourced from Lake Victoria by local suppliers.
A wide selection of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages is available in the store as well as a selection of locally produced coffees. This includes Rwenzori Premium Ground Coffee – a product that Shoprite is marketing and distributing in all of its stores in South Africa. Rwenzori will also open its first coffee shop in the new centre.
Also doing its bit for the environment, Ugandan Roko Construction Ltd., contracted by Shoprite to build the shopping mall, renovated surrounding areas on Lugogo Bypass, on the main route to the country’s border with Kenya.