Despite security concerns, a South African retailer has opened up shop in Nigeria. Shoprite recently debuted its first outlet in northern Nigeria, as part of an aggressive expansion drive and defying wider concerns about security in the region, reports Yahoo!

The store is in the new $110-million Ado Bayero Mall, which took  three years to build and boasts to be Nigeria’s biggest.

“The new venture, at a cost of $20 million, brings to eight the number of Shoprite stores in Nigeria. A further four of the shops which sell food, goods and clothes are slated to open before the end of the year,” reports Yahoo!

“We decided to expand our reach to Kano as part of our commitment to widen our presence in the Nigerian mega cities,” store manager Adulhakeem Abdulganiyu told AFP.

“Kano, as a commercial city with its huge population, provides ample business opportunity which we want to exploit.”

Kano is already home to various shopping malls owned by Nigerians and Lebanese as well as Indian.

“With a huge retailer of Shoprite’s status, other retailers will have to sit up and compete in terms of prices, efficiency, customer satisfaction, product guarantees, security of environment and other customer-related needs,” said economist Badayi Sani.

“It is a good development for consumers and the Kano economy,” said Sani, from Kano’s Bayero University.