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TM reopens new-look Chinhoyi branch

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TM has reopened its Chinhoyi branch after a four-month refurbishment exercise and focus will soon shift to other outlets as the retail giant continues its renovation rollout.

TM has reopened its Chinhoyi branch after a four-month refurbishment exercise and focus will soon shift to other outlets as the retail giant continues its renovation rollout.

BUSINESS REPORTER

The refurbishment strategy, according to TM managing director David Mills, is based on where the best returns would be generated. Work is soon expected to start on the conversion of stores in Masvingo and Gweru.

“The refurbishment plan is a focal point of the strategic intentions of TM over the next few years as the business moves toward recovering its dominant position in the market, facilitated primarily with the equity injection from PicknPay,” said Mills.

“Further funding, however, will come from guarantees and ultimately self-generated capital from growth and enhanced management control. “A similar refurbishment to the one undertaken in Chinhoyi is currently under construction in Hwange and next month the consumers in that town will have a TM store comparable to any in the region.”

At the beginning of February, the TM central office moved from Speke Avenue to the old Jaggers offices in Msasa consolidating both the disjointed storage facilities currently in use and bringing maintenance under one roof.

The pace of the refurbishment programme will be determined by the business’s ability to handle implementation.

He said with the intermittent and unreliable supply of electricity, the supermarkets are obliged to install costly power generation of their own sufficient to power bakery ovens, stoves, refrigeration, lights and sensitive IT equipment.

The refurbishment programme, coupled with a realignment of TM goals over the next few years, according to Mills, focuses not only on upgrading existing units, but on revisiting the basic tenets of successful retailing.

“There’s nothing elaborate about retailing. It’s repetitious, arduous and often unpredictable, but when one gets it right, highly rewarding,” said Mills.

“The plan is that four top-grade refurbishments are undertaken this year whilst interim upgrades in equipment be effected where the need is most acute in other branches.”

The financial year 2012/2013 has seen the opening of two Pick n Pay stores in Kamfinsa and Westgate respectively and two TM stores in both Chinhoyi and Hwange.