Makro expands product offering, announces rebuilding plans
Back by popular demand, Makro Pietermaritzburg will now be sourcing appliances and other highly sought after products for their customers at their temporary warehouse, situated at 3 Promed Road, Willowton.
Makro’s general sales manager, Strini Naidoo, said that in the five months their temporary warehouse has been open, while the rebuilding of their original site at Campsdrift gets underway, they have received an overwhelming amount of requests from a massive segment of retail customers requesting merchandise products such as TVs, appliances and also, a large demand for paint.
“Originally, when we opened our temporary warehouse in October 2021, our initial focus was providing for our bulk food traders and supermarket clientèle. We have since been overwhelmed by requests from our retail customers for other general merchandise and so we have decided to increase our merchandise offering and the number of lines currently on offer,” Naidoo said.
“We have increased our range where possible, and now have a process in place where customers can walk in and request any product available online and we will order it and get it delivered to our store.”
Confirming the rebuilding of the original Makro at its Barnsley Road site, Naidoo said the new Makro set to rise from the ashes of July’s unrest, will be an upmarket concept store with more than double in floor space, with an extended offering of food and liquor, including fresh fruit and vegetables, and an in-store butchery.
“The new Makro will follow the ‘everything under one roof’ concept that serves as a one-stopshop for all our customers’ needs,” Naidoo added. He confirmed the original site has been demolished and set for rebuilding to commence soon. The new store is set to open early in the fourth quarter of 2022.
“We look forward to serving our loyal customers with a bigger and better offering under our continued strive for excellence.”
Naidoo said the company is fortunate to have retained their whole staff component and had no job losses since July’s looting. “Where we could not keep our staff, we deployed them to our sister stores under the Massmart Group in Pietermaritzburg, such as Builders and Game stores. When our new store opens, all the staff deployed at other stores will return to us.”