Choppies Ruwa closing down

Image: Anesu Masamvu

Choppies Ruwa is winding up operations at the supermarket exits the local market after chain announced in November that it’s selling its Zimbabwe business, citing a drop in customer counts of up to 30%.

This is to some extent due to government exchange rate policies that have driven customers away from formal retail.

Choppies is leaving the Zimbabwean market and has opened talks to sell its business, citing the impact of policies that favour informal traders over formal retail.

The company said it has “entered into discussions regarding a possible sale of the business operations of Nanavac (Pty) Ltd trading as Choppies Zimbabwe for cash”. It has 30 outlets in the country and 1000 workers.

“In Zimbabwe, over the last two years, there has been a significant shift to the informal retail sector, leaving the formal retail sector to battle a reduction of up to 30% in footfall and having to compete with the informal sector,” Choppies said Friday.

The company said it has spent too much money keeping its Zimbabwe stores afloat, and needs to deploy capital elsewhere.

“While we believe in the country’s long-term viability, Choppies as a group needs more capital to support its Zimbabwean operations for extended periods and has already invested significant capital to support the operations,” says Choppies. “Due to the factors mentioned above we have decided to exit the country.”

NewZwire