Meikles Limited

Meikles Limited is a Zimbabwean business group with roots in late-nineteenth-century trading and a portfolio spanning grocery retail, department stores, hotels and security services. Its commercial history began in 1892, when Scottish brothers John, Stewart and Thomas Meikle established a trading business in Fort Victoria, then part of Rhodesia and now Masvingo Province. The Meikle family later developed a prominent presence in the hotel and retail sectors, particularly in Salisbury, now Harare. Hospitality became one of the group’s most recognizable activities. Thomas Meikle opened a hotel in Harare in 1915, establishing the Meikles name as a significant hotel identity in the city. The historic Meikles Hotel in central Harare became associated with the capital’s political, social and cultural life. Meikles Limited retained ownership of the hotel until 2020, when it was sold to Dubai-based Albwardy Investments for $20 million. The company continues to operate the Victoria Falls Hotel in partnership with African Sun Limited, preserving a presence in Zimbabwe’s internationally oriented tourism sector. Retail is the group’s largest operating area. Meikles Africa operates department stores under the Meikles name and runs the TM Supermarkets business through the TM Pick n Pay format, following a joint venture with South African retailer Pick n Pay. The supermarket network provides groceries, fresh produce and other everyday consumer goods through a nationwide store base. According to the cited 2024 business description, TM Pick n Pay generated 99.6% of Meikles Limited’s revenue, making grocery retail the clear center of the group’s current business model. The company is described as Zimbabwe’s second-largest retail chain. The group’s department-store heritage also includes H. M. Barbours, founded in 1917 by Irishman H. M. Barbour as Salisbury’s first department store. The store expanded from a single-floor operation into a multilevel city-center retailer and became a longstanding Harare landmark. The Meikle family acquired it after the death of Barbour’s son in the early 1990s. H. M. Barbours eventually closed in 2019, reflecting the changing economics of traditional department-store retail. Meikles therefore combines a historic Zimbabwean corporate identity with a modern mass-market retail base. Its operating profile has shifted over time from a diversified family-associated group known for hotels and department stores toward a business led overwhelmingly by supermarkets. The brand remains associated with Zimbabwean retail and hospitality, while its current public profile is shaped principally by the TM Pick n Pay network and its nationwide reach.

Meikles Limited traces its origins to the migration of three brothers from Strathaven, Scotland, to southern Africa in the late nineteenth century. John Meikle, Stewart Meikle and Thomas Meikle established a trading business in Fort Victoria in 1892. The enterprise developed during the colonial-era commercial expansion of Rhodesia and formed the basis for the Meikle family’s later involvement in retail, hotels and other services. Thomas Meikle expanded the family’s activities into hospitality in 1915 by opening a hotel in Salisbury, the city now known as Harare. The hotel eventually became the Meikles Hotel, one of the best-known hospitality properties in Zimbabwe’s capital. Its location and reputation gave the Meikles name visibility beyond ordinary commerce, and the hotel became associated with important social, political and cultural events in Harare. The group’s department-store history includes H. M. Barbours. Irishman H. M. Barbour founded the business in 1917 as the first department store in Salisbury. It began as a single-story shop and later expanded by adding two floors. After Barbour’s death in the early 1990s, his son inherited the store and sold it to the Meikle family a year later. Under Meikles ownership, Barbours remained a recognized Harare retail institution, serving generations of customers before closing in 2019. Meikles also developed a broad supermarket business. Through Meikles Africa, the group operates department stores and the TM Supermarkets chain, which trades as TM Pick n Pay following its joint venture with Pick n Pay of South Africa. The supermarket business expanded across Zimbabwe and became the group’s dominant operating activity. Its stores sell groceries, fresh produce and other everyday goods, giving Meikles a broad consumer reach outside the country’s major hospitality centers. The hospitality portfolio changed materially in 2020. Meikles Limited sold the Meikles Hotel to Albwardy Investments, a Dubai-based investor, for $20 million. The group nevertheless retained a tourism presence through operation of the Victoria Falls Hotel in partnership with African Sun Limited. In addition to retail and hotels, the company is described as having security-services activities. In its current form, Meikles is best understood as a Zimbabwean retail-led group rather than solely as a hotel company. The TM Pick n Pay network accounts for almost all of the revenue identified for 2024, while the Meikles and Barbours names represent the group’s department-store heritage and the Victoria Falls Hotel preserves its hospitality connection. This combination of historical local identity and supermarket scale defines the company’s contemporary position.

• 2024

  Supermarkets dominate the revenue mix

  [1]Meikles Limiteden.wikipedia.org

  TM Pick n Pay is identified as contributing 99.6% of Meikles Limited’s revenue, highlighting the group’s retail concentration.

• 2020

  Meikles Hotel is sold

  [1]Meikles Limiteden.wikipedia.org

  Meikles Limited sells its historic Harare hotel to Albwardy Investments for $20 million.

• 2019

  H. M. Barbours closes

  [1]Meikles Limiteden.wikipedia.org

  The historic Harare department store closes after more than a century of retail activity.

• 1990

  Meikles family acquires H. M. Barbours

  [1]Meikles Limiteden.wikipedia.org

  After the death of H. M. Barbour’s founder and the subsequent transfer of the business by his son, the Meikle family acquires the department store.

• 1917

  H. M. Barbours is founded

  [1]Meikles Limiteden.wikipedia.org

  H. M. Barbour establishes what is described as Salisbury’s first department store.

• 1915

  Thomas Meikle opens a Harare hotel

  [1]Meikles Limiteden.wikipedia.org

  Thomas Meikle opens a hotel in Salisbury, now Harare, beginning the hospitality legacy associated with the Meikles name.

• 1892

  Meikle brothers establish a trading business

  [1]Meikles Limiteden.wikipedia.org

  John, Stewart and Thomas Meikle open a trading business in Fort Victoria, establishing the commercial roots of the future Meikles group.

A Zimbabwean retail-led corporate group combining nationwide grocery distribution with legacy department-store, hospitality and service businesses.

• Supermarkets

  TM Pick n Pay

  TM Pick n Pay is Meikles’ principal grocery-retail operation and is run through the TM Supermarkets business under the Pick n Pay format. Its stores supply groceries, fresh produce and everyday consumer goods to customers across Zimbabwe. The network is described as having about 60 stores and as being the country’s second-largest retail chain. Newer locations have included Shurugwi and Hogerty Hill in Harare, while some branches have been closed.

• Department stores

  Meikles department stores

  The Meikles department-store business forms part of the group’s traditional Zimbabwean retail portfolio. It complements the supermarket network with broader general merchandise retail and carries the Meikles name associated with the company’s historic trading activities. Specific current store formats and product ranges are not detailed in the cited material.

• Department store · 1917

  H. M. Barbours

  H. M. Barbours was a historic Harare department store founded in 1917. The Meikle family acquired it in the early 1990s after the founder’s death. It was regarded as an iconic local retailer and had served prominent Zimbabwean and regional customers, but the store closed in 2019.

• Hotel

  Victoria Falls Hotel

  The Victoria Falls Hotel is Meikles Limited’s continuing hospitality operation, run in partnership with African Sun Limited. The property connects the group to Zimbabwe’s international tourism economy and contrasts with the former Meikles Hotel asset in Harare, which was sold in 2020.

• Hotel · 1915

  Meikles Hotel

  The Meikles Hotel was the group’s historic flagship hotel in central Harare and a prominent part of the company’s identity. It was associated with the city’s social and cultural life until Meikles Limited sold the property to Albwardy Investments in 2020.

• 2020

  Divestment of Meikles HotelM&A

  Background

  The Meikles Hotel was a long-standing hospitality asset and one of the most recognizable properties associated with the group.

  Action taken

  Meikles Limited sold the hotel to Dubai-based Albwardy Investments for $20 million.

  Aftermath

  The transaction ended Meikles’ ownership of the Harare hotel while the group retained hospitality exposure through the Victoria Falls Hotel partnership.

  Sale price. $20 million (2020)

  Source

• 2024

  TM Pick n Pay remains the core of Meikles’ business[1]Meikles Limiteden.wikipedia.org

  Other

  The cited company description identifies TM Pick n Pay as contributing 99.6% of Meikles Limited’s revenue in 2024, underscoring the group’s concentration in grocery retail.

• 2020

  Meikles Hotel sold to Albwardy Investments[1]Meikles Limiteden.wikipedia.org

  M&A · Other

  Meikles Limited sold the historic Meikles Hotel in central Harare to Dubai-based Albwardy Investments for $20 million. The transaction reduced the group’s direct hotel ownership while leaving it involved in hospitality through the Victoria Falls Hotel partnership.

• 2019

  H. M. Barbours department store closes[1]Meikles Limiteden.wikipedia.org

  Other

  The historic H. M. Barbours department store in Harare, acquired by the Meikle family in the early 1990s, closed in 2019.

1. 1Meikles Limiteden.wikipedia.org