PHOTOS – Nakumatt Closes Ukay Branch Indefinitely After Heavy Floods

Nakumatt Ukay may live in the shadows of Westgate but it’s a pretty important branch for the Supermarket Chain.
Back in 2007, it became the first Nakumatt branch to operate 24 hours, and effectively the first supermarket in Kenya.
Don’t be deceived by it’s relatively small size, people at times prefer small stores when shopping for just a few items. Even when Nakumatt reverted other 24 hour outlets to normal hours, Ukay was never affected.
That changed on Saturday when the rains came pouring down.
The developments around Ukay and even Westgate are on riparian land. This map shows the river literally disappear at Westgate.
Wangari Maathai was once chased by police for protesting against Ukay developers.

Obviously, some shoddy deals were involved for the city to approve structures around that area.
Anyway, this were the scenes at Ukay on Saturday evening.







Nakumatt yesterday announced that they’ve closed down the branch indefinitely with Regional Operations Director Thiagarajan Ramamurthy asking shoppers to use their Highridge branch.
Westgate will also enjoy extended shopping hours, opening at 7am and closing at midnight.