Makro Pietermaritzburg store officially re-opened its doors to customers and traders on 23 November.
“We have been inundated with requests from the Pietermaritzburg community to re-open the store and have gone through an extensive renovation project over the last 12 months to give them an even better shopping experience at Makro. During the rebuild, we were able to serve our commercial and bulk retail trade customers through a temporary warehouse facility. We are now able to welcome all of customers back to our Camps Drift store and trade at full capacity. We invite our old and new customers to come and enjoy a variety of changes that have been added such as the Butchery, Fresh produce sections, and an extended range of general merchandise to meet their shopping needs” says Rajen Padayachee, General Manager, Makro Pietermaritzburg
Amongst the dignitaries in attendance was Mayor Cllr Mzimkhulu Thebolla who shared his heart felt comment “Congratulations to Makro! When the unrest and looting started last year, we never thought we would be here again. It was devastating, our city and the country’s economic activities came to a standstill. We are grateful that even through such difficult conditions you continue to invest in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. We condemn what happened last year and we want to say that your confidence in this city means a lot to us and the people of this city. We will do all we can to protect your investment. Thank you for supporting our people and small businesses.
Brett Cummings, Regional Coastal Executive at Makro added “I would like to thank you all for taking the time to join us today. To the entire management team and the staff here at Makro Pietermaritzburg, a new beginning starts today, and I think you’ll agree that you have a stunning store and what you see is testament to your hard work and effort over the past few months. This is your new home, look after it and treat it like gold and be good to your customers. To the entire Pietermaritzburg team, we did it against all the odds. I am extremely proud of you all!”
Mitchell Slape, Chief Executive Officer at Massmart Holdings Ltd also added “I want to thank everyone that has had hand in rebuilding the store. I remember when I set foot onto this property after the unfortunate events – the store was destroyed. As a response to what we were all collectively going through, we developed a phrase at Massmart that says – we are going to come back stronger than ever before. This store is like a phoenix that’s risen from the ashes. I am immensely proud that over the past year and a half we were able to take care of our people, make sure that we were ready to re-open and come back stronger. This store is a representation of the hope that we’ve got as a business in our business and in South Africa.”
The store was 5500 square metres and is now currently 12 000 square metres to allow for an extended product range and bigger parking lot which will benefit the customer in many ways.
Other refurbishments include a refrigeration plant which uses natural refrigeration gas (CO2) and equipment to recycle liquid from the refrigerators to reuse as the store requires. To reduce the buildings electricity consumption and demand, heat that is usually expelled into the environment will be used to heat the buildings water systems.
Makro PMB operating hours will be affected as follows from the official opening.
- Monday to Fridays – trading from 8am to 6pm
- Saturdays- trading from 8am to 5pm
- Sundays – trading from 9am to 4pm