Clothing store behind Mr Price to shut down its stores

david nganga

May 5, 2017 3:53 PM

Closure to render an undisclosed number of employees jobless

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Clothing and household goods retailer Deacons has announced plans to shut down a number of stores by the end of June this year.

The move comes barely a week after closing its Angelo store at Sarit Centre in Nairobi.

Deacons CEO, Muchiri Wahome, stated that they’ll cease operations in all stores not making profit. He however did not disclose the number of employees who will lose their jobs as a result.

“We are restructuring and some stores which are not making profit will be closed. This will impact staff numbers. The process is ongoing and will be complete end of next month.”

“We are still working on details and going through the paces so I do not have the details of how many stores will be closed and the number employees will directly impacted. We are also still talking with our stakeholders.”

The shop’s full-year results saw it post a net loss of Sh278 million for the year 2016 compared to a Sh100.6 million profit in 2015.

Among reasons named for the huge net loss were lower purchasing power by buyers, depressed economic conditions in South Africa and a systems upgrade at Truworths and Mr Price leading to an undersupply that led to the loss-making.

The one-off shortage of supplies delayed opening of their Two Rivers shopping mall store.

As well, its bottom-line was further affected by expenses which by increased 24.7 per cent to Sh1.41 billion.

Deacons EA owns and manages a chain of franchise fashion and lifestyle retail stores namely, Woolworths, Truworths, Identity, Mr. Price Home, Mr. Price Clothing, 4u2, Angelo, Adidas, Lifefitness and Babyshop.

david nganga