Retail

Inside the new ultra-luxury SPAR store next to a millionaire’s estate taking on Woolworths Food

Shaun Jacobs • 26 June 2026

SPAR’s new Gourmet offering appears to have hit a roadblock less than a year after its first store opened in Zimbali Oasis north of Durban.

Daily Investor recently visited the store to get an idea of how the retailer’s plan to take on Woolworths in the high-end food market was playing out on the ground.

While the store has a premium feel and appears to be generating good foot traffic from the nearby Zimbali estate, its rollout has stalled.

SPAR made no mention of the Gourmet brand during its most recent interim results presentation or its plan to target higher-income shoppers.

The retailer is decidedly on the back foot, with new CEO Reeza Isaacs trying to stem the tide and refocus SPAR’s attention on its core South African business.

Isaacs inherited a SPAR that is retreating from many of its international markets and struggling to maintain franchisee loyalty.

SPAR operates on a unique voluntary trading model rather than a strict corporate franchise model, leaving independent retailers with autonomy while operating under the brand.

The parent company functions as a wholesaler and distributor, providing brand licenses and supply chain services.

Franchisees under this model have freedom of choice to source products from wholesalers other than SPAR to tailor their offerings to local communities.

However, during recent operational difficulties, franchisees have increasingly sourced stock from non-SPAR wholesalers.

This has begun to show on the retailer’s bottom line in South Africa, with its local operations posting a pre-tax loss of R50.9 million in the first half of its 2026 financial year.

SPAR’s operating profit in Southern Africa fell by 72.6% to R237.7 million, with it reporting an operating margin of 0.5%.

The retailer has also lost several experienced retail executives, including former CEO Angelo Swartz, who abruptly resigned in early 2026.

More importantly, the retailer also lost former CEO Max Oliva, who left to run McDonald’s South Africa. Oliva ran SPAR’s Southern African operations after nearly 30 years at the company.

SPAR Gourmet was Oliva’s brainchild and his plan to win over higher-income customers, potentially boosting margins and rejuvenating its local operations.

SPAR Gourmet

Oliva first unveiled plans to launch SPAR Gourmet at the retailer’s 2025 Capital Markets Day, laying down the gauntlet to Woolworths.

SPAR had been planning such a launch for a couple of years, with it first noting in its 2024 annual report that it was losing ground in the battle for higher-income shoppers.

The retailer flagged subdued performance at its higher-end stores as a drag on performance, while value-focused formats were surging.

It decided then to clarify its market position in the high-end market and create a new store format that would house a bespoke “luxury” offering.

Higher-end shoppers prioritise fresh food, convenience meals, and products with sustainability credentials. Its Gourmet brand would have its own private-label products to target these segments.

“Our Gourmet store targets a really niche market of high-income shoppers in suburban residential areas,” Oliva explained in 2025.

“This will be a small supermarket and a fresh food store. It will provide an opportunity to convert current KWIKSPARs into high-end destinations.”

These Gourmet stores aimed to create “reasons to shop” for high-income individuals through partnerships with Vida e Caffe and Frozen For You.

Focusing on three shopper missions – food-for-now, food-for-later, and top-up shopping – the Gourmet brand has a standardised design, unlike typical SPAR stores.

“We have a lot of brand segments that we understand as SPAR, but our customers do not understand. They just see one is more expensive than the other, and they don’t know why,” Oliva said.

“We have to change that positioning in South Africa. We need fewer formats and make it clear why one is more expensive than the other, which is the Gourmet brand.”

Oliva also outlined a plan to convert KWIKSPARs into Gourmet stores, particularly those niche stores located in wealthier areas. The other KWIKSPARs would be converted into regular SPARs.

“We see 30 to 40 stores nationwide. It is not going to be a big sell for us, but it shows our customers that we can play in that space and differentiates our high-end niche stores from the rest,” Oliva said.

“Our big play will be in the SaveMor space from a growth perspective. But this is important.”

This plan appears to have been put on hold by SPAR, with only one Gourmet store opened in the past year and no mention of the KWIKSPAR conversions taking place.

SPAR has not mentioned its Gourmet offering in its reporting since Oliva left for McDonald’s in July 2025.