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- Shoprite has opened its first OK Urban, a cashless concept store in what was once a dimly-lit corner shop.
- It has a barista and sushi chef, and sells fresh goods like sandwiches, breads, pastries, and convenience meals.
- In many ways, it's a direct move into a sector previously dominated by Woolworths.
- Here's what we found at the new OK Urban concept store in Cape Town.
- For more stories, visit the Tech and Trends homepage.
Shoprite has opened a new concept store under its OK brand that they're calling "OK Urban".
It's the supermarket group's most obvious move into a high-end version of the local suburban corner store - more than 12 years after buying the Seven Eleven and Friendly brands in South Africa.
Through its OK brand, the only franchised Shoprite supermarket operation, the group has been slowly chipping away at the Seven Eleven legacy in South Africa.
Until now, this was mostly noticeable in new OK branding at once Seven Eleven stores, tapping into Shoprite's distribution infrastructure and product ranges, and minor store enhancements like improved lighting and layouts.
But much like its move into the high-end supermarket space with its luxury FreshX outlets, this new concept store is a direct assault on a market segment once dominated by Woolworths.
And although it's unlikely to pull loyal Woolworths shoppers away from their favourite local forecourt or Food Stop outlet, it's OK Urban in Sonstraal, Cape Town, offers some insight into the future of the brand that may see it become a popular, slightly cheaper, alternative.
Here's what we found at the new cashless OK Urban in Durbanville:
On approach, the new OK Urban is unremarkable - until you consider what it once was. Google Street View reveals that before OK Urban's move into the space earlier this month, the anchor tenant at the small, slightly odd suburban strip mall was an unappealing Coca-Cola-signed "superette and liquor" shop.
But extensive changes and alterations - like a new roof, a fresh lick of paint over the tired face brick exterior, even paving, a new entrance, and an outside seating area - have made it a more practical and inviting space.
They're also making it very clear from the moment you arrive that your cash is no good here - it's "completely cashless" - and tellers will only accept cards or QR code payment methods.
Despite being a new store that's "embracing the future", there's a decidedly old-school touch to greet you at the entrance - a "customer suggestions, complaints and praise register".
A cursory glance at the book reveals that, for the most part, customers are complimentary about the new shop. The same is true online, where 15 people have rated the store 4.8 out of 5.
Aside from one complaint about not being allowed to pay with cash, the most marked concern was about the lack of plastic barrier bags for raw chicken.
It's unclear if the barrier bag issue was a temporary outage or a deliberate decision - but one clear differentiating factor at OK Urban is the use of branded brown paper bags, rather than plastic.
Once shoppers move past the reading material at the entrance, they're drawn directly into the fresh food section - a clear focus of the new store.
On the right is a bakery selling fresh bread, pastries, and cakes.
The selection includes Houwhoek Pies, sourdough baguettes, various corner-store style white rolls, and fresh croissants that bear an uncanny appearance and taste to those available at Woolworths cafe counters.
Further along is a counter selling various ready-to-eat items like sandwiches, whole chickens, samoosas, chicken wings, vetkoek, filled croissants, and pizza slices.
Next to these is perhaps the most surprising addition to what was once a corner shop with an arcade machine out front - a uniformed sushi chef preparing platters to order. Several shoppers were ordering direct from a menu, but there were also ready-made platters to pick from the shelf.
Equally bougie is the coffee counter, where an in-store barista made a surprisingly drinkable flat white for R25. The counter serves 11 coffee variations, speciality teas, and hot chocolate, all available with almond, oat, or soy milk alternatives.
And in a throwback to the corner café it once was, there's also a soft-serve machine for vanilla or chocolate ice creams in cones or cups.
There's also a selection of microwave meals, soups, and packaged snacks that are a direct take on those available from competing convenience stores. These are alongside relatively healthy ready-to-eat refrigerated snack cups - like cut fruit, a single-serving sandwich filling, or muesli and yoghurt, under the in-house Urban Fresh brand.
The rest of the supermarket offers a good selection of products for a top-up shop or en route to a weekend braai - including charcoal and several meat options under the OK Urban brand.
There's an entire aisle dedicated to chips, a lot of pet food, and a chocolate shelf selling all the usual suspects.
On the shelves is a mixture of items across various price points, including some appearances from Checkers' premium Forage and Feast line and its health-centric Simple Truth range.
And a wide enough range of healthy-enough-looking fresh-cut flowers for a spontaneous gesture.
The checkout process was surprisingly seamless, although the store was far from capacity. Around half a dozen staff were available to ring up the products, and an outward-facing display flashed up all products with prices as staff scanned them.
Shoppers can only use cashless payment methods, with Visa, Mastercard, Amex, and Diners Club cards accepted. Also listed are bsmart, QR payments, and SnackPay. The store also offers typical Checkers MoneyMarket transactions, like those for airtime and data, account payments, and flight and bus ticket purchases.
Completing the picture at this location will be an OK Urban liquor store - a notice adjacent to the main store indicates that in March this year, Shoprite applied for a licence to sell alcohol for off-premises consumption.
Central to the OK Urban model, and its targeting of Woolworths, is its attempt to sell food from convenient urban locations without steep markups.
Prices on dry goods seem to closely match those available at bigger stores in the Shoprite Group.
But it's likely that the fresh convenience products, like flat whites, sushi, and chocolate croissants, which aren't particularly cheap, will cleverly increase the average basket spend per shopper - and the franchise holder's profits.
Although OK is the Shoprite Group's only franchise division, the group privately owns the first OK Urban outlet - presumably to test the concept with the strength of an experienced team and direct support from its head office down the road.
Future OK Urban stores may be available to purchase as independent franchises - and although Shoprite does not publicly disclose all franchise fees, similar established OK businesses have historically cost between R1.5 and R3 million, depending on size, location, and turnover.
