Meikles Limited (ZSE: MEIK) is a conglomerate in Zimbabwe that owns, among other businesses, multiple luxury hotels, Barbours Department Store, Meikles department stores, Meikles Mega Market stores, Meikles supermarkets, Tanganda Tea. The company formerly owned the historic Hyatt Regency Harare The Meikles Hotel in central Harare.
 | |
| Industry | Hospitality industry |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Harare, Zimbabwe |
| Website | www |
| Footnotes / references [1] | |
The company owns stock in Reserve and Kingdom Financial Holdings.[citation needed] The company was listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange in 1996 and its market capitalization was ZW$6.3 trillion at the end of 2005.
History
editIn the late nineteenth century three brothers, John Meikle (1868-1949), Stewart Meikle and Thomas Meikle (1862-1939) emigrated from Strathaven, Scotland to South Africa. In 1892 the brothers opened a successful trading business in Fort Victoria in Victoria Province in Rhodesia. In 1915 Thomas Meikle opened a hotel in present-day Harare. Meikles had social and cultural prominence as the premier hotel in Harare.
H. M. Barbours
editBarbours or H. M. Barbours, which continues as a department store in Harare, was founded by Irishman H.M. Barbour in 1917 as the first department store in the city then known as Salisbury, then capital of Rhodesia. Originally, the store was one story, and later two additional floors were added. After the death of Barbour in the early 1990s, his son inherited the store who sold it a year later to the Meikles family, who own the Meikles stores and other retail stores in the country. The Zimbabwe Business Times called the store "iconic".[2] Customers have included former presidents Robert Mugabe and Canaan Banana as well as Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama when visiting Zimbabwe the 1990s.[3]
Operations
editHotels
The company owned the Meikles Hotel until 2020, when it was sold for $20 million to Dubai-based Albwardy Investments.[4][5] It also operates the Victoria Falls Hotel, in partnership with African Sun Limited.[6]
Retail
Meikles Africa Ltd owns several department stores in Zimbabwe operating as Meikles, Greatermans and Barbours. The company operates the Zimbabwean franchise for the South African Health and beauty retailer Clicks and also owns the TM Supermarket chain.
External links
editH. M. Barbours
editReferences
edit- ^ "Meikles Profile on Wealth Hub". August 8, 2023.
- ^ "End of an era for department stores in Zimbabwe?". Business Times (Zimbabwe). 9 July 2018. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
- ^ "The Rise and Fall of Department Stores". The Herald (Zimbabwe). 19 December 2020. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
- ^ "Dubai's Albwardy to buy Zimbabwe's Meikles Hotel for $20 million". Reuters. 2019-11-22. Retrieved 2019-11-24.
- ^ https://www.thezimbabwemail.com/business/the-end-of-meikles-hotel-why-it-was-sold-and-the-big-lesson/
- ^ https://www.victoriafallshotel.com/about/history
Sources
edit- Bridger, P., House, M., and others, 1973. Encyclopaedia Rhodesia, College Press, Salisbury, Rhodesia.