FAST-expanding retail giant, Choppies Enterprises Zimbabwe has invested $200,000 towards the opening of another branch in the Central Business District in Bulawayo mid next month.
The new branch will bring the number of the retail chain’s outlets in the CBD to six.
Choppies director Siqokoqela Mphoko said the building for their new outlet situated between 8th Avenue and Leopold Takawira Street along Jason Moyo was under renovations.
Mphoko said the investment is expected to create 50 direct jobs which will be divided into two shifts where each shift would have 25 workers.
“We expect the new outlet to be operational by mid February as contractors are still putting things together,” he said.
“For this new outlet, we invested about $200,000.”
Mphoko said the giant retailer was also working on a similar project in Gokwe which is expected to open in March.
Choppies Enterprises has grown its branch network in the country to 29 following the opening of two branches in Gweru late last year.
The retail chain now employs more than 2,000 workers.
In 2015, Choppies announced that it had secured $15 million from Barclays Bank of Botswana for its business expansion operations in Zimbabwe.
The Botswana-headquartered retail group, which has also announced a secondary listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, plans to open 50 stores in Zimbabwe in the medium term.
The retail chain made a grand entry in Zimbabwe in 2013 when it acquired 10 stores which were being operated as Spar Franchises by Sai Enterprises (Private) Limited through its subsidiary Nanavac Investments Private Limited for $22,5 million.
Sai Enterprises was owned by Bulawayo businessman Raj Modi.
The Choppies group operates 125 retail outlets in southern Africa, comprising 72 stores in Botswana, 35 in South Africa and 29 in Zimbabwe. The group’s target is to have 200 stores in five countries by the end of next year.
