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South Africa’s Local ‘Spaza’ Stores Can’t Compete Against Big Retail Shops

South Africa’s Local ‘Spaza’ Stores Can’t Compete Against Big Retail Shops

From Reuters

In this corner of South Africa’s black township of Soweto, the biggest building used to be the Catholic church. Now it’s been overshadowed by a shopping center and business has only gotten worse for Grace, a 68-year-old shopowner.

Like many proprietors of “spaza” shops – the informal stores that dot township corners – Grace barely manages to keep afloat as more of her neighbors head to the mall.

“Once people get paid, they buy their groceries at the malls,” she said, sitting among dusty shelves of tea-bags, small packets of biscuits, loose cigarettes and butter.

“They used to buy their groceries from us. Now they only come for daily items,” she said, declining to give her last name.

Grace has been running the shop with her husband since 1993, the year before South Africa’s first all-race elections. They used to earn around 1,500 rand ($140) a day, but are down to a third of that now.

 

 

Written by David Dolan/Read more at Reuters