Abstract
This chapter details the expansion of retail capital through the format of the “hypers” in the 1970s and the 1980s on the Rand, as sign of modern living and national progress. In the 1990s, these arenas underwent restructuring as retail capital concentrated and consolidated domestically. Under democracy, workers confronted what they perceived to be a betrayal of built-up relations, which they had enacted to effect a participatory realm. They narrated experiences of loss and objectification in the face of neoliberal corporate culture. These formulations suggest how these workplaces continued to be terrains of relation.
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It had a trading area of 7,300 square metres (78,577 square feet) and non-food items made up more than 30% of its trading (see “Pressure on food space behind Boksburg’s R12m expansion,” Supermarket and Retailer Vol. 32, No. 4, April 1985, p. 52).
- 3.
- 4.
“Boksburg: 10 Years of Hyper Magic,” Supermarket and Retailer Vol. 32, No. 4, April 1985, p. 50. This phrase is ubiquitous in retailers’ tales of their merchant entrepreneurialism, sometimes with more “balls” than “guts” (Raymond Ackerman, interviewed by Bridget Kenny, Sandton, August 16, 2001). See Ackerman (2001, 120) for discussion of the visit to France .
- 5.
“Boksburg: 10 Years of Hyper Magic,” Supermarket and Retailer Vol. 32, No. 4, April 1985, p. 50.
- 6.
In 1979, AC Nielsen added a new survey classification, “hyper and major” to account for these larger stores. The “major” stores included the supermarket branches of corporate retailers (“How Do You Measure Up in the Retail Grocery Market?,” Supermarket and Retailer Vol. 27, No. 9, September 1980, pp. 29–30).
- 7.
“Boksburg: 10 Years of Hyper Magic,” Supermarket and Retailer Vol. 32, No. 4, April 1985, p. 50.
- 8.
See Moreton (2009) for the history of Wal-Mart. She locates Walton’s inspiration in 1950s discounters in the Northeast United States . The first Wal-Mart store opened in 1962 (27–28).
- 9.
Former marketing manager, interviewed by Bridget Kenny, Johannesburg, July 18, 2000.
- 10.
The suppliers’ tactic was eventually deemed a contravention of the Monopolies Act (Ackerman 2001, 127), but this scuffle between retailers and suppliers points to the increasing power that retailers gained in the value chain through the hyper formats.
- 11.
Former marketing manager, interview.
- 12.
“Boksburg: 10 Years of Hyper Magic,” Supermarket and Retailer Vol. 32, No. 4, April 1985, p. 55.
- 13.
Former marketing manager, interview.
- 14.
Former marketing manager, interview.
- 15.
At the same time, retailers’ market differentiation began to capture lower-income consumers, and a growing black consumer base in town and increasingly closer to black residential areas (see Chap. 3).
- 16.
“New Hyperama Housebrands Follow Hyper Ranging and Feature Multi-Packs of Related Non-Food Items,” Supermarket and Retailer Vol. 27, No. 4, April 1980, p. 16.
- 17.
Advertisement for Pick n Pay Hypermarket Boksburg in Benoni City Times, February 20, 1981, p. 2; “Imagine, More Room to Move at Hypermarket,” Benoni City Times, April 3, 1981, p. 1.
- 18.
Advertisement for Pick n Pay Hypermarket Boksburg in Benoni City Times, February 20, 1981, p. 2; Advertisement for Pick n Pay Hypermarket Boksburg in Benoni City Times, March 27, 1981, p. 3; and see “Boksburg: 10 Years of Hyper Magic,” Supermarket and Retailer Vol. 32, No. 4, April 1985, p. 55.
- 19.
Sandton is a wealthy neighbourhood in the north of Johannesburg that since 1994 has become the business centre of the city.
- 20.
Former marketing manager, interview. Epol refers to a brand of dog food.
- 21.
“Boksburg: 10 Years of Hyper Magic,” Supermarket and Retailer Vol. 32, No. 4, April 1985, p. 55.
- 22.
“What’s In-Store For You in the 80’s: Part II,” Supermarket and Retailer Vol. 27, No. 2, February 1980, p. 15.
- 23.
“New Hyperama Housebrands Follow Hyper Ranging and Feature Multi-Packs of Related Non-Food Items,” Supermarket and Retailer Vol. 27, No. 4, April 1980, pp. 15–16.
- 24.
- 25.
Former marketing manager, interview.
- 26.
“Boksburg: 10 Years of Hyper Magic,” Supermarket and Retailer Vol. 32, No. 4, April 1985, p. 54; “Checkouts and Terminals at the OK: A Different Point of View,” Supermarket and Retailer Vol. 28, No. 5, May 1981, p. 32.
- 27.
“Checkouts and Terminals at the OK: A Different Point of View,” Supermarket and Retailer Vol. 28, No. 5, May 1981, p. 39.
- 28.
“Boksburg: 10 Years of Hyper Magic,” Supermarket and Retailer Vol. 32, No. 4, April 1985, p. 56.
- 29.
“Boksburg: 10 Years of Hyper Magic,” Supermarket and Retailer Vol. 32, No. 4, April 1985, p. 54.
- 30.
John Stephanopoulis, former unit manager, interviewed by Bridget Kenny, Ekurhuleni, May 10, 2001.
- 31.
Former marketing manager, interview.
- 32.
Leach (1993) called the original department stores a “land of desire.”
- 33.
Amos Tshabalala, former shop steward, interviewed by Bridget Kenny by telephone, Tembisa, August 11, 2000; Mary Nkosi, interviewed by Bridget Kenny, Daveyton, August 26, December 3, 1999, and September 7, 2000.
- 34.
Erica Schoenberger (1997, 120) argues that firm culture is a set of “material practices, social relations and ways of thinking” in specific places. It helps to explain the direction of strategic restructuring occurring in specific companies. Specifically, she re-evaluates corporate strategy within localized power relations involving meaningful conflicts between managers.
- 35.
Lindsay Mentor, Director-Human Resources at JDG Trading, interviewed by Bridget Kenny, Johannesburg, July 1, 1999; and Retail consultant, interviewed by Bridget Kenny, Johannesburg, March 28 and June 26, 2000.
- 36.
Martinus Bezuidenhout, unit administration manager, interviewed by Bridget Kenny, Ekurhuleni, June 23, 1998.
- 37.
Martinus Bezuidenhout, interview.
- 38.
Annelie Pieters, interviewed by Bridget Kenny, Ekurhuleni, March 25, 2000.
- 39.
Elizabeth Maseremule, former trainee manager, interviewed by Bridget Kenny, Ekurhuleni, October 24, 2000.
- 40.
Johannes van Rooy, former department manager, interviewed by Bridget Kenny, Vereeniging, October 13, 2000.
- 41.
Elizabeth Maseremule, interview.
- 42.
Elizabeth Maseremule, interview.
- 43.
Johannes van Rooy, interview.
- 44.
Johannes van Rooy, interview.
- 45.
Frederick Smith, former department manager, interviewed by Bridget Kenny, Johannesburg, November 7, 2000.
- 46.
At this time the stores were still branded as Hyperama. Shoprite later rebranded them as Checkers-Hypers.
- 47.
Johannes van Rooy, interview.
- 48.
- 49.
Elizabeth Maseremule, interview.
- 50.
Johannes van Rooy, interview. Indeed, a survey from the time noted that retailers were the largest category of employers taking dismissals to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA ) (De Villiers 1999).
- 51.
Johannes van Rooy, interview.
- 52.
Retail consultant, interview.
- 53.
Focus group interviews with permanent workers by Bridget Kenny, Ekurhuleni, February 7 and 29, and March 2, 2000.
- 54.
Kethiwe Dlomo, interviewed by Bridget Kenny, Daveyton, August 1 and 8, 1999.
- 55.
Kethiwe Dlomo, interview.
- 56.
This will be discussed in greater detail in Chap. 7 (see also Moodie and Ndatshe 1994).
- 57.
Leveraging less-than-formal relations to assist in other realms outside of work has been identified as central to bargaining strategies of domestic workers (Ally 2009).
- 58.
E.P. Thompson (1971) used the concept of “moral economy” to signal how resistance to the emergence of capitalist relations of production in England was formulated out of people’s lived experiences, embedded as they were in cultural relations of trust, reciprocity, and communality. The claim to a moral economy by new proletarian subjects resisted disembedded capitalist relations by asserting the social character of labour (see also Thompson 1967; Nash 1979; Taussig 1980). Multiple critiques were raised with the concept, while still appreciating its insights (e.g., Roseberry 1989, 200; Kelley 1996, 19–20; Austin 1993, 92–94).
- 59.
Moodie’s argument does not refer back to pre-capitalist values, but is the “mutually acceptable rules for resistance within systems of domination and appropriation” (Moodie and Ndatshe 1994, 86). For him, moral economy describes the rules which can be “taken for granted” by both sides.
- 60.
Italics in original. Roseberry draws on Raymond Williams (1973) to critique the use of moral economy to signify a break from the past. Instead he emphasizes how this language and associated practices offer insight into “consciousness” in the present (see also Portelli 1997). See also Austin (1993, 94) for the usefulness of “moral economy” in marking “understandings of capitalism” in specific “conditions of access to material resources.”
- 61.
Kethiwe Dlomo, interview.
- 62.
Kethiwe Dlomo, interview.
- 63.
Zama Ntuli, interviewed by Bridget Kenny, Daveyton, January 12, 1999.
- 64.
Kethiwe Dlomo, interview.
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See Chap. 7 for an extended discussion of the metaphor of “sitting.”
- 66.
Sara Dlamini, interviewed by Bridget Kenny, Soweto, June 19, 1999.
- 67.
Kethiwe Dlomo, interview. Similar sentiments were expressed in focus group interviews with permanent workers by Bridget Kenny, Ekurhuleni, June 4, 1998, May 18, 1999, and February 2, 2000.
- 68.
Kethiwe Dlomo, interview.
- 69.
Kethiwe Dlomo, interview.
- 70.
- 71.
Mzwandile Mkwanazi, shop steward, interviewed by Bridget Kenny, Ekurhuleni, April 17, July 20, and August 30, 1999, and Johannesburg, September 18, 2000; Paul Mahlangu, shop steward, interviewed by Bridget Kenny, Ekurhuleni, March 25 and 27, June 3 and 26, August 5 and 29, 2000; Thomas Guto, shop steward, interviewed by Bridget Kenny, Ekurhuleni, February 16, 2000.
- 72.
In two branches, there were incidents of between 12 and 20 permanent unionized workers fired en masse (Buhle Bhengu, interviewed by Bridget Kenny, Daveyton, August 27, 1999; Vuyiswa Xaba, interviewed by Bridget Kenny, Daveyton, August 27, 1999; Zama Ntuli, interview).
- 73.
Mzwandile Mkwanazi, interview.
- 74.
Focus group interview with permanent workers by Bridget Kenny, Ekurhuleni, February 7, 2000.
- 75.
Unathi Shabalala, interviewed by Bridget Kenny, Daveyton, August 21, 1999.
- 76.
Vuyo Nokabu, interviewed by Bridget Kenny, Daveyton, May 6, 2000.
- 77.
Khenzani Nkuna, interviewed by Bridget Kenny, Daveyton, June 12, 1999, and May 14, 2000.
- 78.
Cheryl Isaacs, interviewed by Bridget Kenny, Ekurhuleni, May 25 and 27, 1999.
- 79.
This was from an informal discussion I had in the canteen with a group of job applicants.
- 80.
Nozipho Khunyedi, interviewed by Bridget Kenny, Tembisa, August 11, 1999.
- 81.
Focus group interview with casual workers by Bridget Kenny, Ekurhuleni, June 5, 1998.
- 82.
Thandile Ziyane, interviewed by Bridget Kenny, Daveyton, February 22, 2000.
- 83.
Unathi Shabalala, interview. I once observed an older white man yelling at the cashier to stop “throwing his food around.” He was referring to a 10 kilogram [22 pound] bag of potatoes that the cashier, sitting at the till, had to lift and pass over the scanner.
- 84.
Focus group interview with casual workers by Bridget Kenny, Ekurhuleni, June 5, 1998.
- 85.
Focus group interview with casual workers by Bridget Kenny, Ekurhuleni, June 5, 1998.
- 86.
For a comparison of class distinctions, see Sherman (2007).
- 87.
Tsakane Baloi, interviewed by Bridget Kenny, Ekurhuleni, August 3, 1999.
- 88.
Sarah Mahlangu, interviewed by Bridget Kenny, Ekurhuleni, July 27, 1999.
- 89.
Palesa Bogasu, interviewed by Bridget Kenny, Ekurhuleni, July 30, 1999.
- 90.
Sfiso Shenge, interviewed by Bridget Kenny, Germiston, July 28, 1999.
- 91.
Often they did not even know who their employers were or where their offices were located. Many only had a cell phone number (focus group interviews with contract merchandisers by Bridget Kenny, Ekurhuleni, June 2, 1998, and February 7 and 28, 2000).
- 92.
Vuyo Nokabu, interview.
- 93.
Themba Nyembe, interviewed by Bridget Kenny, Daveyton, August 14, 1999.
- 94.
Focus group interview with contract merchandisers by Bridget Kenny, Ekurhuleni, February 7, 2000.
- 95.
Boere is Afrikaans for farmers. It was a term appropriated to symbolize racist Afrikaner men, as in the pre-1994 ANC youth slogan “Kill the farmer, kill the boer.”
- 96.
I found out later that the infringement was being late for his shift.
- 97.
Themba Nyembe, interview.
- 98.
Themba Nyembe, interview.
- 99.
Themba Nyembe, interview.
- 100.
Vuyo Nokabu, interview.
- 101.
Thabo Phasha, interviewed by Bridget Kenny, Daveyton, March 28, 1999.
- 102.
Joseph Hlangwani, interviewed by Bridget Kenny, Daveyton, August 15, 1999, and May 9, 2000.
- 103.
Kethiwe Dlomo, interview.
- 104.
Zanele Mathebula, interviewed by Bridget Kenny, Ekurhuleni, May 27, 1999.
- 105.
Themba Nyembe, interview.
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Kenny, B. (2018). Signifying Belonging: Restructuring and Workplace Relations. In: Retail Worker Politics, Race and Consumption in South Africa. Rethinking International Development series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69551-8_5
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