A bunch of baloney.
That is the view of angry customers given the Gelvandale SPAR’s decision to move non-Halaal cold meat to the Tops liquor store next door.
Leading the charge, Patriotic Alliance (PA) national chair Marlon Daniels, with two of the party’s councillors, visited the supermarket on Sunday to voice their concerns as they felt the decision alienated a large portion of the Gelvandale community.
“How can you expect residents, especially children, or priests and pastors, to go into a liquor store to buy their food?
“While it may seem like a small issue to some, there are people who believe this to be highly disrespectful, and it could cause some feelings of animosity among neighbours and drive a wedge between people of different religious backgrounds,” Daniels said.
The issue came to light late last week when a notice was placed in the front window of the store in Stanford Road, apologising to customers for not having certain products available, like processed and cold meat, and meat not adhering to Halaal requirements.
The notice stated that non-Halaal products were removed due to “stricter policies from [their] new New Halaal Certificate Supplier”.
Some of these products, like cold meat, were still available, but were moved to a fridge at the Tops next door.
The poster went viral on social media, with many people voicing their displeasure.
Store manager Zane Lagerdien said he understood the outcry from the public and it was never their intention to offend or discriminate against anyone.
It was simply a measure put in place as they attempted to improve services and business at the store, he said.
“A major issue was people picking up a non-Halaal product and then putting it down in the Halaal section when they decide they no longer wanted it.
“That contaminates that entire section of the fridge and makes the products no longer suitable for customers that require Halaal products,” Lagerdien said.
“Additionally, we also found that many of the non-Halaal products on offer are not selling well, and if they don’t sell it leads to a lot of wastage, which in turn impacts on the store’s profit margins.
“So we are trying to find a way to balance product availability with the best customer service, while also bringing in some new products to see if they sell better than the ones currently available.”
Lagerdien said they had not expected people to go into the liquor store to buy non-Halaal products, and had made staff available to go next door to fetch the products as requested by customers.
He indicated that the products would in all likelihood be moved back to the main store, and a meeting with regional management would be held on Monday to explore their options going forward.
PA councillor Bradley Murray said there was never any notice indicating SPAR staff would fetch goods from the liquor store, which led to people feeling marginalised.
“SPAR is supposed to be a convenience store, but at this point it is proving to be an inconvenience.
“It’s degrading for a reverend to walk into a bottle store just to buy his polony, or for a child to be shown away when his parents send him to go in and buy meat.
“And it is only a matter of time before people start blaming their neighbours for the decision SPAR management made,” Murray said.
Daniels said the party would wait until Monday to see what the store decided before considering further action.
“First, we must exhaust all channels of communication.
“If that fails, our members are ready to mobilise, in a peaceful manner of course, to show our displeasure and to show SPAR they need to make decisions that are inclusive of the entire community,” he said.
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