JUST ME :: and a stack of blank pages

:: Living creatively ::

About me

This is the real secret of life — to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realise it is play. The only thing that is ultimately real about your journey is the step that you are taking at this moment. That’s all there ever is. I’m here to tell you that the path to peace is right there, when you want to get away. When you are present, you can allow the mind to be as it is without getting entangled in it. If you miss the present moment, you miss your appointment with life. That is very serious!
Showing posts with label spaza. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spaza. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Spaza shop

“The Great Depression, like most other periods of severe unemployment, was produced by government mismanagement rather than by any inherent instability of the private economy.”
- Milton Friedman


Spaza Shop - watercolour in Moleskine Watercolour Sketch-book - 8" x 5" - Maree©

This Spaza shop in Tarlton has the most amazing bargains, like the cheapest cigarettes in the country!

A Spaza shop is an informal convenience shop business in South Africa, usually run from home. They also serve the purpose of supplementing household incomes of the owners, selling everyday small household items. These shops grew as a result of sprawling townships that made travel to formal shopping places more difficult or expensive.

"There are at least 100 000 spaza shops in South Africa – with an estimated 40 000 located in Gauteng – with a collective turnover of well over R7 billion per annum. Each spaza shop employs between two and three people, who in turn support an average of four family members. This translates into almost one million people benefiting from the existence of a spaza shop in their neighbourhood.

However, many of spaza shop owners do not hold formal business management qualifications and indeed, a significant number of them run spazas only as a means of survival."
(This info from SPAZANEWS)