Chinese-owned supermarket China Square closes indefinitely in Nairobi over public safety concerns and misleading statements

China Square, a Chinese-owned supermarket located at Unicity Mall, Nairobi, has announced its indefinite closure.

The closure was due to various issues, including public safety concerns, a shortage of tills, and misleading statements on its operations. The company cited the inability to handle the high volume of traffic, which has become a severe concern for public safety, as the main reason for the closure.

The company also plans to increase the number of security personnel to handle the high traffic of customers. The owner, Lei Cheng, apologized for any inconvenience that the closure may cause, adding that they are committed to resolving the issues soonest possible.

China Square opened on January 29, offering a range of household items from kitchenware to furniture and hardware.

However, Kenyan traders claimed that China Square cut them out of the market by selling its goods at a deep discount.

The traders from various competing trading centres took their complaints to Kenyan deputy president Rigathi Gachagua last week, appealing for action and threatening to stage protests. The announcement came a day after Cheng said the company would stop operations temporarily “to allow us to re-evaluate and replan our company strategy.”

In response to the uproar, Kenyan Trade Minister Moses Kuria said he had held talks with Kenyatta University, which owns Unicity Mall, about leasing the site to the competing small traders. He also offered to assist China Square’s owner in setting up a manufacturing plant in Kenya to produce goods that could be traded rather than competing with local small-scale traders.

Kenya’s foreign affairs principal secretary, Korir Sing’Oei, sought to assure foreign investors that Kenya’s investment regime is non-discriminatory, irrespective of nationality. He emphasized that “no lawful investment actor should be apprehensive because the country’s investment regime is non-arbitrary and non-discriminatory.”

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