Johannesburg - Spar Group Ltd., a South African food and liquor retailer, will open its first store in Angola on December 10, working with a local partner, Finance Director Mark Godfrey said.
“Spar will simply provide products, services and the brand,” Godfrey said in a telephone interview.
“Most definitely we do intend to expand, but we need to source local retail partners and the speed of future expansion will depend on how the first store performs.”
The store will be in the country’s capital, Luanda.
Godfrey declined to name the Angolan partner.
As food retailing in South Africa is becoming more competitive, grocers are expanding in the rest of Africa.
Shoprite Holdings Ltd., South Africa’s largest retailer, opened its first store in Luanda in 2003.
It has more than 150 supermarkets outside South Africa in 16 African countries.
Spar plans to open four stores in Mozambique next year, and growth in Africa outside of its home market will be “slow and steady,” chief executive Wayne Hook said in a November 13 telephone interview. - Bloomberg News