The Sunday News
Marvelous Moyo
VICE-PRESIDENT Phelekezela Mphoko yesterday officially opened a new Choppies outlet in Gwanda Town.
VP Mphoko, who is also Choppies Zimbabwe chairman, officially opened the shop at Phakama Business Centre in the morning.
In his remarks at the event that was attended by scores of shoppers, VP Mphoko said the outlet would support the mining town community by offering affordable prices for its services.
“We today officially open the Choppies outlet for you as the Gwanda community, it will support customers by providing services at affordable prices,” he said.
VP Mphoko said the community should also brace for promotions that would be provided soon adding that Choppies would benefit the community in different ways.
“Choppies will also plough back to the community. There will be promotions and people will get opportunities to win some prizes,” he said.
The Gwanda outlet opened its doors to the public on Thursday and has since then received overwhelming support from local customers.
The Gwanda community said the opening of the outlet had come as a boost to them as they had noted that prices of goods at Choppies were affordable.
“Gwanda is a mining town and some shops were taking advantage of that to unnecessarily increase prices. At the end of the day, ordinary residents would suffer by buying goods at high prices compared to other areas. We now hope that with the opening of this outlet selling goods at lower prices, other shops will stop taking advantage of us,” said a gold panner who requested anonymity.
The opening of the Choppies outlet comes at a time when the mining town has expressed the need for more businesses to invest in the town.
The Botswana headquartered group has 16 outlets in Zimbabwe with dominance in Bulawayo where it runs major outlets.
Gwanda town has recently recorded a number of businesses opening shop although a few have also shut down operations.
The Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce national executive member, Mr Nqobizitha Sibanda, recently said the business community was excited to have such big conglomerates spreading wings to Gwanda.
“As the business community we really appreciate the investment . . . It is a way of telling the world that Gwanda is a good town for investment,” he said.
