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Midlands Correspondent
GWERU-based shoe manufacturer, Bata Shoe Company, has opened three more shops as it seeks to increase its market share in the country’s leather industry.

The firm has opened its doors in Norton, Murambinda and High Glen as part of a drive to increase its foothold across the country.

The company has also resumed the refurbishment and modernisation of its stores which it had earlier stopped to evaluate successes of shops that had undergone renovations.

Mr Ahm Ehsanuzzaman, the Bata managing director, said the company was finalising the refurbishment and modernisation of some of its stores.

“This year we have opened new stores in Murambinda, High Glen and Norton and next year we are looking at refurbishing some of our existing stores but it’s not finalised yet.

“We are presently trying to upgrade our Robert Mugabe Store in Harare so that we make it bigger and better for our valued customers and once it’s  completed it will be a facility of international standard,” he said.

Bata has so far refurbished and modernised about nine shops among them retail outlets in Harare, Gweru and Kwekwe. The refurbishment and modernisation of Bata Stores began in 2012.

As part of its efforts to retain its customers, the Gweru based shoe manufacturer earlier this year embarked on an in-house training programme for its employees working in its retail outlets.

“We have also tried to improve the services in our outlets through training our workforce to ensure that they sell better. We call this the Bata 5 step Training Programme which is the basic. We have already completed that and it is giving us positive results,” said the Bata managing director.

The company employs about 500 employees in its retail outlets. — @lavuzigara1