Nakumatt protests closure of Junction Mall

Nakumatt Supermarket has issued a statement accusing the Junction Mall management of closing their Junction branch illegally, terming it as unfair and a breach of agreement.

This comes after the Junction Mall management published a notice claiming that Nakumatt had surrendered the premises, after failing to adhere to certain agreements of lease.

“In the wee hours of Saturday night, the managers of the Junction Mall illegally, deceitfully and using trickery locked our premises in breach of our existing lease arrangement (including relying on a superseded and terminated surrender),” read the statement in part.

According to details of the agreement divulged in the statement, Nakumatt was to pay Junction Mall Ksh20 million by December 1^st and restock the premise to previous levels of normal trading by the said date.

Nakumatt claimed to have paid Ksh 20 million and was taking necessary steps to ensure the premise was stocked, which they satisfactorily demonstrated to Junction Mall management.

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“We have taken verifiable steps to ensure that the premises are adequately restocked by 1^st December 2017, including by providing approximately Ksh64 million of stock to the branch. In this regard, we met the directors of the Junction Mall led by Director Andrew Ndegwa and the MD of Knight Frank Ben Woodhams on 25^th September 2017 to demonstrate to the restocking plans we had initiated and was building up to achieve full stocking by 1^st December 2017. The directors and managers wished us well in this endeavor,” read the statement

Nakumatt further demanded access to the closed premises in order to continue with business, terming the behaviour by Junction Mall as predatory.

“The Junction Mall’s underhand actions on Saturday night, including locking the branch and publicizing a fraudulent and misleading notice claiming that the premises have been surrendered by Nakumatt, are clearly contrary to the terms of agreement, illegal and of utmost bad faith,” They concluded.

Nakumatt has been facing financial constraints, with most of its branches running out of stock and others being closed. This has thus forced the management to enter into a partnership deal with its rival the Tuskys, in a bid to resurface her dwindling fortunes.