Edgars Stores Group is set on expanding its footprint across Zimbabwe with the official opening of a new Jet branch at Hogerty Hill shops in Harare today.
In an interview, Edgars Stores Group Chief Executive Officer Sevious Mushosho shared the company’s growth strategy during the launch, outlining plans to better serve the local community and beyond.
“We firstly want to expand our presence; we believe this community… Jet would be the right offering for this place. It would be convenient for our communities in Hatcliffe and also Domboshava,” said Mushosho
The new store aims to provide affordable, high-quality products to customers, tapping into a market that stretches from urban areas to rural communities.
“We want to take the market from this side all the way to the rural areas, and we believe Jet offers good value for affordable prices,” he said.
The branch, housed in a recently constructed shopping mall, Mushosho said required a minimal investment.
“We didn’t invest a lot of money because the shopping mall is still new. It was just really putting the fittings. So, just below $100,000,” he said.
In a bold statement on the second-hand clothing industry, Mushosho raised concerns about its impact on the local economy and public health.
“If there’s anything illegal in the industry, that has to be regulated by law and controlled. I’ll give you an example of the second-hand clothes market. We believe it’s not good for the nation because we’re bringing in second-hand clothes, which may bring in diseases and also, we are undermining our own people.”
As a measure to counter the influx of second-hand clothing, Edgars Stores is preparing to launch “express stores” offering affordable, locally produced clothes.
“That’s why we believe as Edgars Stores, we’ll be launching express stores to sell affordable clothes, which are new to basically deal with that market. But we believe as a business that we’ve got a market we’re serving, and our customers, they like what we’re doing and we should be able to grow our business,” Mushosho said.
Local production is central to the Edgars Stores strategy, with the company’s manufacturing arm, Carousel, playing a key role.
“We are quite glad, actually, that our own local manufacturing company called Carousel is producing a lot of the stuff you see inside there (the shop). Together with our partners, about 75% of what you see in there was produced locally and we import mainly footwear, that’s probably the 25% you see.” he said
Although footwear presents challenges for local production, Mushosho noted that the company is making strides in this area as well.
“Footwear locally, it’s not so challenging at the moment. But we’ve got some local shoes as well in there,” he said, adding that Edgars is eyeing further expansion in the footwear market, particularly in health and fitness.
