FREQUENT Makro Springfield shoppers have been asking when the store will reopen since it was looted and damaged in July during civil unrest.
Shoppers are already finding it difficult to travel from Durban to Makro in Cornubia or Makro in eManzimtoti.
With Black Friday no longer a one-day sale or weekend sale but a month-long sale for many retail stores, some shoppers feel they might miss out on Black Friday this year.
I curse the day Springfield Makro was looted 😭🥺😔 the drive to Cornubia gives me hell.
— Snow Singela (@SnowSingela) September 23, 2021
Is Makro Springfield still closed??
— Mendy Shozi (@mendy_shozi) October 13, 2021
“Following the civil unrest in July this year, a total of 26 stores in KZN were damaged. Of these, 14 have re-opened with a further five to be re-opened before the end of the year. The balance, which suffered extensive damage (including Makro Pietermaritzburg and Game West Street) will only re-open next year,” said Massmart spokesperson David Mogotlane.
On Tuesday Massmart had said it would pay R650 million out of its own pocket after the looting in KZN and parts of Gauteng in July was not fully recovered from its insurance cover.
Massmart estimated that the total replacement cost for property and stock damages as a result of the civil unrest to be R2.5 billion, of which R1.3bn relates to inventory losses.
Mogotlane said Massmart was fully committed to KZN and to providing their customers with the best possible access to the Black Friday deals they love.
He said as part of that commitment, Makro, Builders and Game will all be running four weeks of deals this “Black November” month, with new deals being released each week.
Makro in Springfield, Durban being looted.
— IOL News (@IOL) July 13, 2021
🎥 Supplied#looting #ZumaUnrest #ShutdownSA
Read more here: https://t.co/NQcwp75zHv pic.twitter.com/ufgKhtagNU
“We hope that this will provide customers whose local stores have not yet re-opened with additional time and opportunity to travel to alternative Game, Makro and Builders stores in the province,” Mogotlane said.
He added they had also strengthened and expanded their e-commerce capabilities, which includes affordable home delivery and in-store collection solutions, as well as their new partnership with Vodacom that enables Makro and Builders customers to shop for exclusive deals on the Vodapay super app.
Vodapay is available for download on the Google Play and Apple App stores.
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