New Moz stores bulk up business for SA hauliers

SA ROAD hauliers will be hauling more consumer goods and perishables to Mozambique as Maputo seeks to reverse the tide of wellheeled local buyers trekking to Nelspruit to do their shopping. SA retailers’ losses will be road freight operators’ gains with a greater number of shopping options available for Maputo consumers. “We have a new shopping mall opened downtown, added to the shopping mall near the Polana Hotel, and the speciality shops and brand name outlets are increasing in pace with the building of luxury villas on the oceanfront,” said Samito Zucula, an importer/exporter at Maputo harbour. The Maputo Chamber of Commerce envisions a time when SA shoppers will come to Maputo the way Mozambique shoppers for a decade have gone to Nelspruit, extending the trips for a brief holiday by the sea. Success of Nelspruit’s Riverside Mall and adjoining shopping centres is based in part on Mozambican consumers, as acknowledged by SA Revenue Service, which has set up a VAT refund kiosk at Riverside Mall to benefit Moz shoppers. The high-speed toll road connecting Nelspruit with Maputo has expedited traffic both ways. Shoprite Checkers opened its fifth Mozambican store last week in the southern town Matola. The SA supermarket chain’s trucks servicing its stores are familiar sights plying Moz roads.