South Africa’s Game Stores moves to offload Nigerian assets

In the next two months, Game Stores, a South African retail giant owned by Game Discount World Limited, will exit the Nigerian market, more than a year after Shoprite discontinued business in the country.

Game Stores in a letter dated October 26, 2022, to business partners, the retail firm said it would leave Africa’s largest economy by way of stock clearance sale, Vice President of Merchandise at Game, Neville Hatfield, noted.

The South African company had previously planned to sell its asset in Nigeria to Xanderwill Limited, but later opted for a stock clearance sale, which is the selling of goods to get rid of them rather than to earn a profit.

Although, Game Stores also plans to exit Ghana, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, however, by December 25, 2022, the company will be closing its five stores in the Nigerian market.

The letter reads, “On October 4, 2022, we notified you that we had initiated potential Game store closure consultations with our staff members in Nigeria. These consultations follow a decision to discontinue the process to sell our Game Stores in Nigeria to Xanderwill Limited.

“We also committed to providing you with a further update as soon as we had clarity on the way forward, following consultations with our staff, which have now been completed. Unfortunately, in the present circumstances, we feel that there are no reasonable alternatives to store closure. This has been an exceptionally difficult decision to take and we recognise that it will be a source of disappointment for many. In the case of Game staff members, our undertaking is to provide severance packages in recognition of their service to our company.

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“Similarly, we will meet our outstanding commercial commitments to our business partners in Nigeria. In terms of immediate next steps, it is our intention to initiate a stock clearance sale in our stores in Nigeria.

“We anticipate that the last trading day for Game Nigeria will be on 25 December 2022. We will contact you within the next weeks to finalise commercial expectations and arrangements with yourselves. Thank you for your service to Game Nigeria, we are so sorry that we have been unable to continue our operations in your country.”

Meanwhile, Game Stores joined a growing list of South African retail companies selling off their assets to leave the Nigerian market, after Mr Price and Shoprite.

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