Just how big is the Naivas Nyali branch?

Well, the Naivas Nyali bridge is, by all standards, a considerably huge supermarket. One way in which you get to know that the Nyali Naivas branch is truly being is by trying to move from one end of it to the other. So like when you get in through the entrance, and try to get to the opposite end, you find that you actually have to walk for several minutes! And in between, you have to go through shelves upon shelves of merchandise...

Another way in which you get to know that the Naivas Nyali branch is a big enterprise is by looking at the employees as they stream out at the end of the working day or at the end of shifts. The situation is such that the matatus coming from places like Mtwapa and Bamburi Mtambo often have to set up what looks like a big stage outside the entrance to the Nyali Naivas when the Naivas employees are clocking off. You get the feeling that the Nyali Naivas employees are in the dozens, if not in the hundreds – with some of them taking the Bombolulu matatus, even as the others cross the road and take the Bamburi Mtambo matatus with others taking Mtapwa matatus because apparently some reside in Shanzu and Mtwapa areas.

To get to the Nyali Naivas branch from Mombasa CBD, you need to take the Mombasa Malindi highway, cross the Nyali bridge, go straight past the Nyali Lights, past neighborhoods like VOK, Kisimani and Bombolulu, to finally arrive at the supermarket (about 1 km from the Sheikh Khalifa school), and just past the KRA school of administration.

Nakumatt Nyali (which used to be in the opposite mall) used to be other major supermarket in the area. Previously, that stage used to be known as ‘Kenol’ but nowadays, thanks to the growth of the Nyali Naivas branch, it is simply known as the ‘Naivas’ stage.