Nairobi — Supermarket chain Tuskys has closed its Kenyatta Avenue branch inching towards its final straw with only two of its branches remaining in operation.

On Monday morning, the doors of the usually busy Tuskys Karasha remained closed with a notice plastered on the wall informing clients that it was closed due to unavoidable circumstances.

"Due to unavoidable circumstances, we have had to close this branch. Kindly support our Tom Mboya street branch which remains operational," the notice read.

"Any inconvenience is highly regrettable."

The other remaining branch is Tuskys Athi River where the retailer has its headquarters.

The move to close Tuskys' Kenyatta Avenue branch underlines the challenges in reviving the troubled retailer that was once Kenya's largest chain.

The operations in the two remaining branches have remained slow with countable customers and few counters in operations.

Tuskys had commenced talking about raising billions of shillings from debt and equity investors but the plans appear to have stalled.

Trouble at Tuskys Supermarket came to the fore in February 2020 when the company announced a restructuring programme that saw it sack several employees citing a difficult operating environment and poor performance.

At the height of its success, the retailer employed more than 6000 employees with a complement of more than 800 direct suppliers.