Friday 23 November 2012

Shopping in Clanwilliam

As far as I know there are two Clanwilliams in the world: one in Ireland, and the other in South Africa in the Cederberg region. It is the latter that has reference in this blog. I have never been to Clanwilliam in Ireland, but I would think that there are considerably more shops in that main street than there are in this main street. This information is written for guests at Saint du Barrys and indeed all propective visitors to Clanwilliam who want to know about shopping in Clanwilliam for practical and therapeutic purposes. Most visitors do not come to the Cederberg for the shopping experience and certainly Clanwilliam does not compete with Dubai, Zurich or New York in this respect. The most common questions we are asked are like this:

Is there a general store and when is it open?

There is a Spar, in fact a SuperSpar which means it's a bigger one with more lines and ranges, and it's open for seven days a week from seven till seven, except for Christmas Day and Good Friday. There are also other general stores, but the Spar is the best stocked.

We are not often asked about liqour stores, but here is the information: I have seldom looked for alcohol in the early morning, but I do know that Tops opens at eight in the morning and closes at seven in the evening, except for Saturday when closing at five is compulsory.Cora opens at eight as well, and closes at eight each evening, except for Saturdays when the cut-off is at five.  The law in South Africa is strict about no alcohol being sold after five on a Saturday, and no sales during Sunday.

When are petrol stations open?

There are three petrol stations: the two in town are open from seven in the morning till nine in the evening and there is another on the N7 open for 24 hours a day. All three stock petrol and diesel.

Where can I buy airtime?

Spar, Pep and possibly a few more places.

More generally, there is a good butchery, "Ramskop", the surf shop (I have no idea why it has this name) which sells clothing and footwear, a video outlet, McClans which is akin to KFC, two gift shops, one in Nancy's Tea Room and Tannie Poppie se Shoppie. Pep Stores is mainly for clothing. Visitors who have read up on the town look for rooibos tea products which are sold from the Rooibos Tea factory. Here Saint du Barrys is allowed to boast: we stock rooibos products sourced from three different manufacturers, and after using the products in the bathrooms, many guests take advantage of buying from us what they have experienced in respect of soap, shampoo, body lotion, body butter and other products.

Guests frequnetly want to visit the Strassbergers Shoe Factory. For those who like shoes, this is often a hit. Once we had a guest who had to buy an extra suitcase to take all the shoes home.

There are more service orientated shops, all located on or close to the main road.

The majority of shops accept major credit cards.

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