Africa’s largest supermarket chain, Shoprite has recently opened a branch in Ghana’s biggest shopping centre, the Accra Mall. The official launch took place on the 1st of November 2007, and it brought together hundreds of anxious shoppers who couldn’t wait a second longer to have a taste of the Shoprite shopping experience. People of all ages and race trooped to the Accra Mall to see what the supermarket giants had to offer, and while some came out of the supermarket with trolleys full of food stuff and home appliances, some of the patrons were just there to window-shop. The supermarket can boast of its clean and spacious floor plan, which has well segmented areas for fruits and vegetables; delicatessens; meat; fish, baked products; and home appliances.

A week after the launch, the patronage of Shoprite is still high and the presence of heavy traffic leading to the supermarket is evidence of this fact. Shoprite claims to offer an affordable range of quality products but there isn’t much difference in comparison to the prices offered by other supermarkets. Majority of products shelved in the supermarket are made in South Africa perhaps because it is a South African company. But it also hits home the harsh reality of how underdeveloped the manufacturing sector of the Ghanaian economy is. The country has so many raw materials, particularly agricultural resources which could be processed for sale in these supermarkets, and even exported to other countries. A larger percentage of farm produce harvested are left to rot because there aren’t adequate and effective means of storage or preservation. Some local farmers complain that they don’t have a means of transporting their produce from the villages to the cities and yet people are able to transport fresh foodstuffs from South Africa to Ghana. The average Ghanaian farmer is poor and yet the Ghanaians spend their money buying imported foodstuffs, either fresh or processed. It is time for drastic changes because it is unacceptable for an economy driven by agriculture to be oblivious of the need to develop its agro-industry to meet the growing demands of the world. A supermarket like Shoprite should be able to stock fruit juices made in Ghana and not just Ceres.