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Herald Reporter
SPAR Athienitis, situated in the Fife Avenue Shopping Centre in Harare, re-opened its doors to consumers yesterday after extensive renovations that cost US$1 million.
General manager of Spar Zimbabwe, Mr Cypren Borerwe, said: “Spar Athienitis has officially re-opened to the public, bigger, brighter and better. Southsea Africa has invested significant finance into the upgrading of this store, and we are excited to take our customers on the next step in the drive to achieve retail excellence.”
The store has undergone a significant transformation, with an increase of 600 square metres, about twice the area of a tennis court, in trading area, as well as a stand-alone 196 square metre Tops at Spar.
Nearly 500 square metres of the newly refurbished store is dedicated to fresh and frozen products, highlighting Spar’s “fresh is best” policy.
The store’s state-of-the-art fixtures and fittings reflect retail supermarket trends of the future, with new and improved shelving, innovative point of sale technology, focus lighting and LED linear lighting. The store has a warm, inviting ambiance, with minute attention to detail, guaranteed to improve the customer shopping experience.
The new-look Spar Athienitis boasts wider shopping aisles and an increased range, as well as a new gift and home décor section.
It will focus on top-notch service departments, including high-quality baked goods and confectionery, a wide selection of meals-to-go, an extensive delicatessen, and a specialised butchery department, offering meat cut to order as well as traditional pre-packaged cuts.
Spar Athienitis employs 78 staff, who have undergone extensive re-training by the Spar Zimbabwe retail operations division.
In 2015, Innscor Africa Limited demerged its supermarket retail division in order to refocus its business strategy, whereupon Southsea Africa acquired the Spar Zimbabwe license and the six existing corporate Spar stores from Innscor Africa Limited.
Since then, the Spar brand in Zimbabwe has gone from strength to strength, growing to 19 corporate and 18 independently owned Spar supermarkets across the country.
Spar Athienitis is one of several revamps scheduled for 2022.
Southsea Africa is a wholly Zimbabwean-owned conglomerate that invests in the potential of Africa. In line with the group’s ongoing commitment to the Presidential Vision 2030, Southsea Africa’s strategic vision for the next seven years is one of aggressive expansion, providing employment opportunities and developing a robust staff development programme, in order to contribute to a growing middle income society by 2030.
Southsea Africa is also fully committed to protecting the environment, and Spar Athienitis is the first supermarket in Zimbabwe to use carbon dioxide as a refrigerant.
The refrigeration system has zero ozone-depleting potential and a global warming potential of 1, which is very low. The system is also highly energy efficient.
Speaking about the newly installed refrigeration system, Environmental Management Agency director Mr Steady Kangata yesterday said: “As EMA, we cherish and appreciate Spar Zimbabwe’s thrust towards a nature-positive world through the use of ozone friendly refrigerants.”
Spar supermarkets across Zimbabwe are also well-known for leading the way in monthly National Environment Cleaning Day, and for their ongoing community efforts in recycling and reducing waste. All Spar carrier bags are made from 100 percent recycled plastic, and corporate stores also offer plastic-free alternatives in an effort to reduce reliance on single-use plastic bags.
Founded in the Netherlands in 1932, the Spar business continues to be a success, with more than 13 600 Spar stores in over 48 countries on four continents, meeting the needs of over 14,5 million consumers every day.
Abel Ndooka
Online Reporter