Starbucks to open first Cape Town shop in a local mall – Business Insider South Africa

(Photo: Timothy Rangongo)

Starbucks, which has 13 stores in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, will open its first outlets in Cape Town.
The first store is planned for Canal Walk in mid-November.
The local Starbucks chain is under new ownership after Taste Holdings sold it for only R7 million last year.
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Five years
after opening its first stores in South Africa, Starbucks will now also have outlets in Cape Town for the first time.

Its first Cape Town store
will be open in Canal Walk in mid-November, the company told Netwerk24. “Several
leases” are in place in Cape Town.

The Starbucks
licence in South Africa is held by Rand Capital Coffee, which bought it from
the struggling Taste Holdings at the end of last year. Taste sold its 13 Starbucks stores in Gauteng
and KwaZulu-Natal for only R7 million.

Adrian Maizey, owner and
CEO of Rand Capital Coffee, says the company’s Cape Town launch was initially
intended to happen in June.

“When Covid-19 hit we
had to place the initiative on hold, triggering several hard decisions that
impacted all partners, and a mass round of lease renegotiations across the
country.

“Fortunately, we have
resilient partners and we are grateful to those landlords who share our vision
and commitment to contribute to the South African economy, and who have worked
closely with us to help ensure our expansion was only delayed and not
cancelled. It is during such a time of crisis that the importance of
collaboration between all stakeholders for the greater good, is most apparent,”
says Maizey.

Fifty permanent jobs
will be created as part of the Cape Town expansion.

Starbucks was established
in 1971 in the US, and it now has more than 32,000 stores in 80 countries.