Revival of Edgars’ Express stores pays dividend
by Staff Reporter · The Zimbabwe Mail
Clothing retailer Edgars Stores Limited’s revival of its Express stores is paying dividends by capturing cost-conscious shoppers.
The retailer has managed to offset the heavy impact of second-hand clothing markets and drive significant growth.
Dotted around the country in high-traffic locations, the Express stores are part of the group’s expansion strategy, aimed at significantly increasing its retail presence to compete in this space.
Giving an update to the Minister of State for Bulawayo Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Judith Ncube, on Tuesday at Carousel Factory, Carousel managing director Mr Menfree Tanyanyiwa said they were working on introducing affordable clothes that would compete with second-hand clothes, popularly known as amabhele/mabhero.
“We brought back the Express stores specifically to target the lower end of the market. We want to take on that market head-on, where people are going to amabhele/mabhero.
“We want to be able to sell things in the Express stores for US$2 or US$3, and the only difference is that these items will be brand new, as opposed to second-hand clothing. So, we were trying to regain our market share, as it were, by also targeting that end of the spectrum,” he said.
“We rebirthed the Express Chain, which used to be there back then. At some point, what we are now calling Jet was called Express. Then we rebranded to Jet, so then we had two chains, and we are now back to having three chains: Edgars, Jet and Express.”
He said that as Carousel Factory, they currently have 581 employees, of whom 537 are directly linked to production and 353 are female, representing 65,7 percent of their employment levels.
Mr Tanyanyiwa said they were hoping that in summer, around about August, they should go up to over 650 employees as they start preparing for the high summer trade.
“Clothing generally sells much, much more during October, November and December and from a manufacturing perspective, we need to have produced those items around about September and October. This then allows us to have the merchandise in store in time for the high Christmas trade,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Government has gazetted regulations banning second-hand clothing, except in cases where the importer has obtained a valid permit authorising the importation for charitable purposes only.
While the Government has previously made policy pronouncements regarding second-hand clothing, the new measures now have firm legal backing under the Statutory Instrument Statutory Instrument 59 (Control of Goods (Import and Export) (Commerce) (Amendment) Regulations of 2026.
The Government reaffirmed the ban in August last year, following a similar order issued a few years ago. However, the current regulations provide the statutory authority required for full enforcement.
Zimbabwe banned second-hand clothing imports primarily to revive the local textile and clothing industry, which has struggled against cheap, imported alternatives. The ban aims to support local manufacturers and prevent the dumping of foreign waste.
Source: Herald