Zim consortium takes over Spar brand

A consortium of local businessmen, Spar Zimbabwe, has taken custody of the South African retailer’s brand in the country following the ‘closure’ of the Spar Group’s distribution centre last year.

Addressing journalists in Harare last Friday, Terrence Yeatman, managing director of the recently established Spar Zimbabwe, said the 31 SPAR stores around the country would continue to operate in Zimbabwe. Spar has been operating in Zimbabwe since 1967.

He said existing independent Spar franchise holder, Yellowcob Enterprises had taken over the six former Innscor stores.

Five of the stores are in Harare, Sam Levy Village, Bridge, Golden Stairs, Queensdale and Letombo, while one is in Mutare. The stores were sold by Innscor in December last year. Independent retailer Darren Lanca’s family controls Yellowcob.

“Concurrently, the Spar licence for the whole of Zimbabwe was transferred to a newly formed company, called Spar Zimbabwe. There are still 21 Spar stores owned 100 percent by independent local Zimbabwean retailers around the country.

“They all trade under the Spar banner under licence from the guild of Spar grocers. The independent Spar retailers work together with Spar Zimbabwe to remain competitive in the Zimbabwean retail sector,” Yeatman said.

Yellowcob now has 10 Spar stores under its armpit, while there are now 21 independent Spar stores across the country.

At a press conference held after Spar Group chief executive, Graham O’Connor told Reuters on Monday that the retail giant had divested from Zimbabwe’s tough economy at the end of 2015, O’Connor said the group would continue to supply Zimbabwe’s independent Spar stores from South Africa.

“For 49 years the Spar brand has been trading in this country and will continue to do so. Spar Zimbabwe intends to have more of its branded products manufactured locally following the closure of the distribution centre, which supplied mainly South African-made goods.

“For the last 20 years or so we have been importing the same baked beans from South Africa, but beginning this year we made the decision to switch to a local manufacturer …the beans are grown by small scale farmers and canned just outside of Harare,” Yeatman said.

“The costing is the most important part and we were able to offer competitive prices and this is evidence that with commitment and clever engineering we can produce quality products in this country,” he said.

Yeatman noted that tough economic conditions in the country had exerted pressure on independent retailers. Many of the retailers were struggling to cope in a cut-throat industry dominated by big national chain stores OK Zimbabwe and regional giant Pick n Pay of South Africa. 

Financial Gazette