Supermarkets employ a great many people. According to their own annual report figures, Pick ‘n Pay has 49,000 employees, Shoprite 100,000 and Woolworths 22,400. Presumably there are a number ‘temps’ working for the companies over and above that.

All supermarkets stock local products/produce. For purposes of this section, I am only dealing with the supermarkets’ own label or house label products, ie those products which are sold under the supermarkets’ own branding.

Fruit & Veg City/ Food Lovers Market

The Fruit & Veg City/Food Lovers Market own label is called Freshers. They sell canned pears and peaches that are ‘Product of South Africa’ as well as canned baked beans.

The Freshers sauces and dressings are ‘Produce of South Africa’ as is Freshers Canola Oil. One of the Food Lovers Signature Extra Virgin Olive Oils is marketed as South African, but labelled ‘Produce of South Africa’, ie it’s not clear if the olive oil is made in South Africa from South African olives. The other olive oils, no matter if Freshers, Food Lovers Signature or non-house label brands are imported.

The Freshers jams are all imported. The dried fruit is not labelled, nor is much of the fresh fruit and veg for that matter. I didn’t find any local brand canned vegetables for sale at Fruit & Veg City.

Pick ‘n Pay

Pick ‘n Pay stocks many local brands. In terms of their own label items, you’ll find local produce in the canned and dried fruit items, but the jams are all imported. While the frozen vegetables are local, the canned vegetables are largely imported. The Pick ‘n Pay own label chicken is ‘Product of South Africa’.

Most of their clothing brand Real Clothing is imported but there are some locally made cotton/lycra and cotton/polyester items for both children and adults.

Their stationery is a mix of local and imported – you need to check the label.

Shoprite/Checkers

Shoprite’s own-label Ritebrand has a good range of locally produced frozen and canned vegetables as well as canned fruit (for detail see the ‘Food & Drink’ chapter). All their Ritebrand jams are ‘Product of RSA’ and so are the Ritebrand jello, mayo, pasta and cordial. Many of their Ritebrand cleaning products are manufactured in RSA, although they are not identified as such and simply say ‘packaged for’. You are also staying close to home (ie local) with the own-label toilet paper and paper towels.

Beyond that, no matter the brand, you are looking at a large range of goods made in Asia. All the towels, appliances, crockery and cooking ware, even the Bush Baby potjie pots and the gas burners are imported. Exception: the Metalix bakeware range is local.

The Checkers own-label is called simply Housebrand or CheckersChoice, but the picture there is the same as at Shoprite, right down to the toilet paper and paper towels.

Spar

Spar has a different retail model from the other supermarkets. Product offering is different across each store. Please read the paragraphs on the various food items here for the few Spar products that I have covered.

Woolworths

Woolworths offer a good choice of fresh local food but they also import fresh goods, including some of the organic range. Generally this seems to be related to seasonal availability. However, most of their own label long life products (canned and frozen goods) are imported, the exception being canned and dried fruit.

Woolworths own label body care products are partly RSA-made, partly imported with no obvious rule that I could work out.

The majority of clothing sold by Woolworths is imported, including their Country Road, Trenery and some of the South African designer range. Best bet for local are young children’s clothes, where Woolworths stock a nice range, and simple cotton/viscose items for adults.

There are local manufacturers making shoes for Woolworths, but I haven’t worked out how to identify them. All the shoes (and accessories) I came across were imported.

Woolworths are exemplary in some ways: They are the one corporate retailer that responds to emails and is open to questions. They have a programme called the ‘Good Business Journey’ which sets targets for environmental factors like water, energy usage and waste, sustainable farming and fishing as well as social development and transformation. And they win responsible retail awards.

However, these targets are competing with and are often squarely overruled by ‘business imperative’ (their phrase). A lot of marketing goes into making Woolworths customers feel good about their ‘give back’ choices, including the Woolworths My School My Planet loyalty programme.

Feeling good about ourselves, we should hold Woolworths to their own standards – customer opinion is important to them.

If Foschini can source 65% of its women’s fashion in South Africa and Pick ‘n Pay and Checkers can sell a good variety of locally produced canned and frozen vegetables surely Woolworths can too?