Super Spar expands retail footprint
Pauline Dikuelo | Monday March 23, 2015 15:31
Super Spar, which is trading under Tsetseng Retail Group (TRG) is a 100 percent citizen owned company.
In an interview with The Monitor, Tsetseng Investments Group Marketing Executive, Bobby Rushforth explained that within these 24 stores, they boast seven Super Spars, an elite category of Spar shops for up market segment.
He also said that the local market has opportunities urging locals to invest and own Spar franchises. He revealed that currently they have three Spar stores that are owned by Batswana.
“We have three stores that are owned by locals now, but we used to have more. I think most are failing because in this business you need to have two or more stores so that they can sustain each other if another one does not perform well. However, we do support locals as almost 95 percent of our top management staff are locals,” he said.
Furthermore, Rushforth said they boost local suppliers as they give them preference when buying the stock before considering the foreign market. “What we can buy locally we do that and I am proud to tell you that most of them are doing well in terms of delivery. We buy oil that is locally produced in our stores, most chicken, beef, vegetables, as well as Atcha to mention a few.”
However, Rushforth explained that there are some regulations that a supplier has to adhere to, as they need to conform to all house regulations, like the Botswana Bureau of Standards (BOBS), health regulations as well as be of good quality at a market related price.
Having introduced their highly affordable own branded assorted fizzy drinks recently, the Super Spar boss said Batswana can expect the price of less than P10 for a 2 litre drink to be sustained for a very long time. “We brought in our 2litre soft drinks as a cheaper option for our customers and I can assure our customers that they should expect to buy this at a price less than P10, 00 for a very long time as we do not have plans to increase the price,” he said, adding that they import the drink from South Africa.
Touching on the reduction of the Value Added Tax (VAT) on some of the foodstuffs like rice, flour, brown bread, milk, samp as well as fruits and vegetables, Rushforth said that they have removed VAT from all the above mentioned products effective 25th February, adding that he hopes the removal of VAT on such items would relief the consumer.