A QUEUE snaked through the first Starbucks shop south of the Sahara, winding out of the door and down the block. It greeted the American coffee chain’s boss, Howard Schultz, when he visited the Johannesburg store for the first time recently. “I have been to many, many Starbucks openings around the world,” Howard Schultz marvelled. “I have never seen a line like this after a week of our opening.” Few of the South Africans shuffling in line had ever tasted Starbucks, but felt sure it was worth the hour-long wait. “Celebrities are always drinking it,” said Lebo Nkosi, 26, a shop assistant at a nearby mall, as she waited with her friends.
Two months after opening, this Starbucks still pulls impressive queues on weekends. Famous international brands are a bit of a novelty in South Africa. Similarly enthusiastic crowds met the launches of the first Krispy Kreme Doughnuts and H&M clothing shops in Africa late last year. Burger King, which opened in 2013, had long queues for months. For big global brands, South Africa’s market offers avid consumers and a stepping stone to the rest of Africa.
The appetite for venti lattes and...Continue reading
Source: Middle East and Africa http://ift.tt/298Wn99
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