Meikles () is the popular name given to Meikles Hotel in central

Harare, Zimbabwe Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its metropolitan ...

, Meikles'

department stores A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic appea ...

in Zimbabwe and Meikles Limited, the company which owns everything including the hotel, the department stores and Meikles'

TM Supermarket TM Supermarket is a chain of supermarkets in Zimbabwe. They have branches in all cities and in most Zimbabwean towns. They are a part of the Meikles group of companies, though Pick n Pay Stores, a South African retailer, took control of 49% of TM Su ...

chain and other retail outlets. The company owns stock in Rebserve + Kingdom Financial Holdings. The company was listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange in 1996 and its

market capitalization Market capitalization, sometimes referred to as market cap, is the total value of a publicly traded company's outstanding common shares owned by stockholders. Market capitalization is equal to the market price per common share multiplied by t ...

was ZW$6.3 trillion at the end of 2005. In November, 2019, Dubai-based Albwardy Investments stated that it will buy Zimbabwe’s Meikles Hotel for $20 million and would upgrade it.

History

In the late nineteenth century three brothers, John Meikle (1868-1949), Stewart Meikle and

Thomas Meikle Thomas Meikle (4 December 1861 – 8 February 1939), born in Scotland, was a businessman and pioneer in Southern Rhodesia, the African country now known as Zimbabwe. He travelled to Durban, Natal (in present-day South Africa), in December 1869 with ...

(1862-1939) emigrated from Strathaven, Scotland to South Africa. In 1892 the brothers opened a successful trading business in Fort Victoria in

Victoria Province Masvingo is a province in southeastern Zimbabwe. It has a population of 1.485 million as of the 2012 census, ranking fifth out of Zimbabwe's ten provinces. Established as Victoria Province by the British South Africa Company, it was one of the ...

Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...

. In 1915

opened a hotel in present-day Harare. Meikles had social and cultural prominence as the premier hotel in Harare.

Operations

Hotels The company owns the Meikles Hotel, Cape Grace Hotel in

Cape Town, South Africa Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislature, legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the sec ...

and The

Victoria Falls Hotel The Victoria Falls Hotel is a historic luxury hotel at Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, dramatically situated with a view of the Second Gorge and the Victoria Falls Bridge from its terrace. It is a member of The Leading Hotels of the World marketing or ...

in Victoria Falls in a joint venture arrangement. 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.

References

{{Reflist

Sources

*Bridger, P., House, M., and others, 1973. ''Encyclopaedia Rhodesia'', College Press, Salisbury, Rhodesia.

External links

Meikles Annual Report 2011Meikles Group/ Meikles Limited
Companies listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange Holding companies of Zimbabwe Hospitality companies of Zimbabwe 1915 establishments in the British Empire Hotels in Zimbabwe Hotels in Harare