Shoppers enjoy great bargains at store opening
In the spirit of Black Friday, people waited in anticipation since the early morning hours for the grand opening of Choppies Supermarket on November 27. The new store will soon be a household name.
KOMATIPOORT -Choppies is a full supermarket service offering bakery, butchery, fruit and vegetable products. Corrridor Gazette spoke to many of the customers on the opening day.
Everyone who made their way to the store were happy about the fact that there will be competition for the only supermarket in town now and were positive that they will benefit from it.
Competition is always a good thing, was the general feeling. Customers indulged in all the opening specials and massive savings. “The shop is very neat and has a nice feel to it. Choppies are targeting the lower- to middle-income sectors of society, but increasingly attracts upper-class consumers. “We hope that the cheap prices will stay,” was a common sentiment among shoppers.
Chicken was high on the priority list of the shoppers at only R37,99 a kilogramme. The staff had to fill the freezers up with some more tender, tasty, chicken an hour and a half after opening. Nkomazi’s executive mayor, Cllr Thulisile Khoza, addressed the clients, as well as the top management and staff, before cutting the ribbon.
She said she appreciated Choppies for making the decision to open its doors in Komatipoort, and most importantly for creating job opportunities. Furthermore Khoza appealed to the people to support the new store and promised that the municipality will do their part as well.
She motivated the staff of all departments to give its best and wished them success for the future.
Sidlangaloludzala Cultural Group entertained shoppers outside the store and DJs were provided music inside.
The origin of this growing household brand goes back to 1986, when Mr Farouk Ismail opened a single retail outlet in Lobatse and named it Wayside Supermarket.
Mr Ramachandran Ottapathu, better known as Ram, formally joined Choppies in 1992. He came to Botswana from India with nothing more than his accounting qualification and soon became the CEO of Wayside Supermarket.
In 1993 the store was awarded a SPAR franchise in Lobatse and opened another store in Gaborone in 1996 under the Family Grocer banner. The Choppies brand was introduced in 2003 and began to expand throughout Botswana.
It opened its first store in South Africa in 2008.
Fast forwarding to 2012, Ottapathu is now counted among Botswana’s most successful businessmen.
Today there is a total of 150 stores, with 73 across Botswana, 40 in South Africa and 37 stores in Zimbabwe.
The growing brand is currently looking into extending to Zambia and Namibia.
Choppies believes in the potential of the African market hence its continued growth.
