Kenya’s luxury retail market has been growing steadily, with more high-end retailers targeting the country’s rich and growing middle class. Deacons Kenya is the latest brand to venture into the middle class zone, and has announced plans to open a store in an upcoming shopping mall in Roysambu, off Thika Road by 2013. Deacons market has largely targeted the high-end luxury consumers in big malls like Westgate, Galleria Shopping Mall, Village Market and Sarit Centre.

Speaking to Business Daily, Deacons CEO in Kenya, Mr. Muchiri Wahome said that Nairobi’s upcoming suburbs have seen a mixture of lower to upper middle classes, and Deacons is reviewing the branch expansion strategy to be line with this trend. According to the 2011 fourth quarter Hass Index report, most tenants who had previously been living in high end areas like Westlands have shifted homes in a bid to cut household expenses.  Retailers have therefore had to change their strategy in order to capture this market.

Currently, Kenya is the dominant player in the group and contributed 92.9% of last year’s revenue while Uganda and Rwanda contributed 6.9% and 0.2% respectively. Deacons Kenya owns and manages various internationally acclaimed retail brands in Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda. These brands comprise of Woolworths, Truworths, Identity, 4U2, Mr. Price, Mr. Price Home, Angelo, Adidas,Life Fitness and babyshop. Currently, it has 31 stores in operation after closing 3 stores in Tanzania earlier this year. The new expansion plan will see Deacons increase this number by opening 19 more stores to grow its sales.