I can still remember the day when I first became aware of Mr Price’s existence. The year was 2007; I was driving along Ngong Road in Nairobi near Prestige Plaza. I looked up to see a huge banner announcing the opening of a home furnishing store called Mr. Price Home at the Westgate Centre in Westlands. I found the idea of a home furnishing store interesting and made a mental note to check out the store the next time I was in its vicinity.

That same evening, I returned home to an excited housemate who had spent the afternoon in the new store buying household goods for an apartment that she would soon be moving to. As soon as I got home, she couldn’t wait to show me what she had purchased and within minutes, I found myself seated on her bed as she pulled her new belongings out of bags that she had stuffed under her bed for safe keeping.

Out of these bags, she pulled gorgeous cushions made out of rich fabrics in the most delicious colors. She showed me hip, playful wine glasses that were just perfect for the young 20-something professional woman that she was. She pulled out candles, dried flowers, and all manner of beautiful knickknacks that would turn her new apartment into a beautiful and tasteful home. With the added incentive of actually seeing what Mr Price had to offer, I made yet another mental note to visit the store ASAP!

A short while later, while running errands in Westlands, I decided to make a small detour and finally check out the new Mr Price Home store. My, oh my! Was I in for a treat! In this large store, I was first greeted by beautiful bedding, complete with perfectly-made beds to let you see just how great this bedding would look in your own home. (This is when I first spotted the mattress pads that I wrote about in this post.) While perusing the store that day, I saw gorgeous rugs and glasses of all variety. I saw beautiful ready-made curtains, dried flowers, toilet mats, towels, and laundry baskets.  Basically, I saw everything that you could possible ever think of needing in your home. (Well, that’s not quite true. I didn’t see any hard furniture such as beds or couches or tables but still the range of household items that I saw at Mr Price Home was pretty exhaustive.) As I walked around taking everything in, I nostalgically began to think back to when I first started living on my own in Nairobi and how much I’d have loved for such a store to be open at the time.

When I began to live on my own in Nairobi (back in 2003), I had an apartment that I was totally in love with. I was in my mid-twenties, well set up both professionally and financially, and I simply couldn’t wait to furnish my home in  the way I’d always dreamed. Sadly, reality set in: finding household furnishing in Nairobi that was  functional, chic, and affordable proved more difficult than I’d expected. Walking through Mr Price Home that first day, I began to imagine how much easier, and more fun it would have been to furnish my home with all the stylish functional items that I could see at Mr Price.

Anyhow…bygones. Fast forward to today, two years later. Since that first visit to Mr Price Home, I have since become more familiar with the Mr Price brand and the various Mr Price stores in East Africa. During a visit to Nairobi last year, I visited the Mr Price clothing store located at The Junction Shopping Complex; in Dar es Salaam, I am a frequent visitor of the Mr Price/Mr Price Home combination store in Mlimani City. (I also hear that there’s a new Mr Price Store at The Oasis Complex in Kampala, which opened earlier this year.)

Mr Price in Kampala - Photo Credit: Nicholas Kajoba/UgandaOnline.net

But now, I’d like to ask you: As an East African (or East African resident), how has the advent of Mr Price stores to the region changed your life? Have you ever visited any of these stores? Have you ever purchased anything there? Would you recommend that others shop at Mr Price stores? How do you find the products that Mr Price stores sell? What do you think of these products in terms of price, quality, beauty, utility and/or value?

I look forward to hearing what you have to say. In the meanwhile,  in an effort to attempt to provide you with an answer to the question I posed in this post’s title, here is a link to  the official Mr Price website (I hate to break it to you, but you’ll have to find the answer to the question for yourself. ) Also, if you are interested in finding out more about the presence of Mr Price stores in East Africa, then check out this article from allAfrica.com – it shed a lot of light on the issue for me.

Otherwise, that’s all from me today.

Until the next time,
Biche

P.S. To be sure not to miss future posts on ChickAboutTown, sign up to receive posts directly by email or subscribe to ChickAboutTown in a reader.

Share and Enjoy

Related Posts