Shopping Centres and Shopping Patterns inTwo African Townships of Greater Salisbury*M. A. H. SrnoutDepartment of Geography, University ofRhodesia, Salisbury.The two major African townships of GreaterSalisbury, Harari and Highfields, formed thesubject for a study of shopping centres and shop-ping patterns during July and August 1969.The study, complementary to other researchbeing conducted by the author at the time,1 hadtwo main aims: firstly, to provide an explanatorydescription of retail facilities available in thetownships, and secondly, to determine the extentto which their populations rely on the centre ofSalisbury for retail purchases. Restrictions of time, and cost made a survey of all ten African town-ships that serve greater Salisbury impossible, butthe two chosen for study are the largest and formgood representative examples.At their outset, the African townships evolvedessentially as residential areas for Africans em-ployed within Salisbury and its suburbs. More' recent development has aimed at making thetownships into self-contained units, except inemployment, with their own schools, social ser-vices, recreational facilities and commercial areas.Although some light industrial sites are pro-vided in the townships, few are developed, sothat the townships provide minimal employmentand remain little more than dormitory towns.The vast majority of their working populationsthus travel daily between the townships and theEuropean areas of Salisbury, and so have op-portunities to make purchases in both areas.* Received for publication, December, 1971.Harari (population 58 010; area 509 ha)2 isowned and administered by the Salisbury Muni-cipality, contains nearly seven thousand house-holds and is situated two miles south of thecity centre. It possesses one main commercialcentre, Musika, and seven minor clusters ofshops located in or adjacent to the residentialneighbourhoods. Being close to the main com-mercial core of Salisbury, Harari contrasts withthe other townships which are all further removed;the other township chosen for study, Highfields,is six miles from the city centre, and thus pro-vides markedly different shopping patterns. High-fields is administered by the Rhodesian Govern-ment and is statistically similar to Harari (popu-lation 52 560: area 777 ha; 7 144 house-holds).2It is situated to the south west of the city centrenear Salisbury's main areas of industrial develop-ment. Highfields possesses one main commercialcentre and two subsidiary centres in residentialneighbourhoods.The shopping centres in Harari and Highfieldsprovide a similar range of facilities to those incentres of comparable size in the non-Africanresidential areas, but differ markedly in aspect.Few buildings of more than one storey occur inthe township shopping centres and whilst plan-ning regulations stipulate minimum buildingvalues there is little control over the layout andand appearance of premises. Shop buildings areoften sub-divided so as to provide as many rent-33payers as possible, resulting in premises which aretoo small to permit efficient business operations.Building lines vary and consequently pedestrianaccesses are unpaved and irregular in shape.Little attempt is made to keep shops or theirsurrounds looking tidy. The shopping centresare generally shoddy in appearance and reflectclearly the haphazard manner in which develop-ment has taken place. Of the eight shoppingcentres in Harari, Musika the most central andlargest has a range of 21 retail and servicefunctions with a total of 53 such units. Theseven neighbourhood centres possess on averageeight different functions and the average totalnumber of functional units is eighteen. By con-trast, the facilities in Highfields are more con-centrated in one centre. The main Machipisashopping centre provides a range of thirty differ-ent service and retail functions with a total of 207units. Both of the neighbourhood centres are ofrelatively minor importance and together accom-modate only 63 retail and service units.The most common retail premises in the town-ship shopping centres are butchers, general foodshops and genera! dealers. The small range oflow-cost goods in these shops is a reflection ofthe limited purchasing power of the residents.Many of the general dealers' stores are multi-functional units although they operate under asingle licence. These shops often house watch-repairers or clothes-menders seated behind smalltables in the shop who offer their services on the'while you wait' basis. A small portion of theshop may accommodate a hairdresser and oftenminor car repairs are attempted in a backyard.Other common retail premises are those sellingclothes, bicycles, shoes and secondhand goods.Services provided normally include dry-cleaningdepots, hairdressers, photographers and thoseoffering repairs to shoes, radios and watches. Therelatively high proportion of maintenance ser-vices indicates the low financial status of town-ship residents who can seldom afford new materialpossessions of high value.The survey of shopping patterns aimed atdetermining the degree of use of township shopsfor a range of purchases. It was assumed at theoutset that the higher the price of an article andhence the lower the frequency of purchase, thegreater the likelihood of purchases being made inthe city centre. Further, as neighbourhood shop-ping centres exist in the townships, it was neces-sary to assess the proportion of the total tradegenerated by the townships, conducted in suchcentres. It is commonly recognised that the typeof information desired here is best obtained bypersonal interviews conducted on the 'door todoor' basis. However, practical problems, notably,the small daytime population in the townships,a lack of trained interviewers and of permissionfor them to work in Harari, prevented thisapproach. It was also desirable for purposes ofcomparison that the two shopping studies becarried out in the same way and consequentlya questionnaire survey conducted through theApost was adopted. After consideration of thenumber of households in each township, the sizeof the sample desired and problems of time andcost it was decided to deliver 2 000 questionnairesin each township (see Appendix). Each envelopecontained the question sheet itself, a coveringletter explaining the purposes of the survey and,requesting co-operation, and a stamped addressedenvelope for the return of completed question-naires. Tn order to reduce postage costs andobtain an even areal sampling spread the ques-tionnaires were delivered by hand by the respec-tive staffs of the two township authorities.Deliveries commenced on 16 July 1969, and the^first replies were received on 18 July. By mid-August replies had dwindled to one or two aday and the survey was closed for analysis on21 August.The questionnaire was divided into two parts.Part 1 asked residents to indicate where theybought the most goods for a range of seven typesof purchases. The three shopping areas listedwere the main commercial core of Salisbury,*Musika in Harari for Machipisa in Highfields)and other shops in the townships. It was not pos-sible to distinguish between the various neigh-bourhood shopping centres because there is noone nomenclature to identify each. Part 2, framedafter preliminary discussions with township resi-dents, posed a series of questions about the'range of goods and shops available, prices ofgoods, where most money is spent and areasmost preferred for shopping. Comments wereinvited on the shops and shop assistants togetherwith suggestions for additions to the shoppingcentres. Questions were phrased so as to presentas little difficulty as possible to those residents .whose command of English was weak.** The use of an African language for the questionnaireswas ruled out as there is no one common language inthe townships and many residents cannot read orwrite their natural language.34cut_6»FIGJ.CHOICE OFSHOPPING AREAMain township shopping centreSubsidiary township shopsSalisbury cityr-100-80cu£_Q.A HarariB HighfialdsFMAn anailysis of returned questionnaires pro-vided the following figures:Harari HighfieldsFinal return 426 626Percentage return 21,3 31,3Spoilt papers 23 26Working total 403 600A small minority of the sample populationdid not read or understand the questionnairesand these were recorded as spoilt papers anddiscarded. The satisfactorily completed question-naires represent 5,7 and 8,4 per cent samples ofthe households of Harari and HJighfields respec-tively. No reasonable explanation can be offeredfor the ten per cent higher return of question-naires from Highfields.The proportions of the township sample popu-lations choosing each shopping area for therange of purchases included in Part 1 of thequestionnaire are shown in Fig. 1.In the case of smail casual purchases 93,0 and97,3 per cent of Harari and Highfields residentsrespectively shop in the townships. The smallnumber who do make such purchases in thecity centre probably pass conveniently close tosuitable shops in Salisbury when returning fromwork. The lesser use of city centre shops byresidents of Highfields is due to the fact thatmore are employed in the nearby industrial sitesand so do not travel to work via the city centre.Of those v/ho make their small casual purchasesin Highfields 72,7 per cent patronize the maincommercial centre of the township, whilst inHarari the proportion drops to 38,4 per cent. Thisdifference relates to the greater provision ofneighbourhood shops in Harari than in High-fields and is to be expected when such minorpurchases as a loaf of bread or pint of milk areinvolved. No advantage is gained in travellingfurther than the nearest shop. Owing to the posi-tions of the two neighbourhood centres in High-fields some half of the residents have no alter-native to shopping in the main Machipisa centre.Not surprisingly a number of requests were voicedon returned questionnaires for the establishmentof new shopping centres in the residential areasof Highfields furthest from the Machipisa centre.Replies to the question on the purchase ofvegetables show that 79,9 per cent of Harari resi-dents chose Musika and a further 15,4 per centthe neighbourhood shops. Thus a total of 95,3per cent of such purchases are made within thetownship. The corresponding figures for High-fields are 78,5 and 16,8 per cent, which give <an identical total. This high degree of depen-dence on the townships for purchases of vege-*'tables results from three major factors. Firstly,African culture and traditlion includes the con-'sumption of a number of vegetables not normallyavailable in the city centre. Secondly, a significant *proportion of the vegetables on sale in Harari is Agrown by the residents either on their own plotsin the township or in nearby rural areas. Thus *the source of supply is either in the township orfocused on it. Thirdly, as most vegetables are* *home grown near the market the quality is highand prices are considerably lower than those forsimilar items in the city centre.Shopping for groceries shows a markedly differ-ent pattern with 48,1 per cent of Harari residents Ł>and 28,8 per cent of Highfields residents makingtheir purchases in the city centre. The difference*in these proportions reflects the distances of thetwo townships from the city centre and the relativecosts of reaching the latter. Comments on re- ^turned questionnaires suggest that the greaterrange of groceries, lower prices and opportunities*for comparative shopping provided by the largesupermarkets in central Salisbury are major attracttions. Of those who shop for groceries in thetownships 58.5 per cent in Harari and 80,3 percent in Highfields patronise their respective maincentres. In each case the major centre possessesa far wider range of goods and shops than the ,smaller neighbourhood shopping centres. InHarari, meat purchases are divided almost equally-between the township and the city centre whilstin Highfields 86,2 per cent of such purchases are'made in the township. In general, the Africancustomers prefer to patronize butchers' shops nearto their homes as meat purchases are made fre- tquently if not daily because of storage problems.Thus within Harari 66 per cent of purchases tare made in the neighbourhood centres, all ofwhich possess butchers' shops comparable to those"-at Musika. By contrast the miinor centres inHighfields gain only 13,7 per cent of the totalmeat purchases although the proportion of suchpurchases made in the township is higher thanthat for Harari because of lesser contact with the _<city centre.The last three questions on Part 1 of the*questionnaire related to small items of clothing,shoes and major items of clothing; an hierarchyof purchases arranged in order of ascendingprices. The proportions of such purchases madeby Harari residents in the city centre were 85,6; x3696,5; and 98,5 per cent respectively, while theŁ corresponding figures for Highfields were 67,0;94,3; and 96,6 per cent. In both townships suchŁŁ .purchases are largely restricted to the main shop-ping centres because of a lack of suitable retail1 outlets in the neighbourhood centres. As theMachipisa centre in Highfields possesses a widerrange of clothing shops than the Musika centre^in Harari the former township gains a greaterproportion of trade in minor clothing items. In..general terms the proportions of each type ofpurchase made in the townships exhibits a similarŁ pattern, with Higbfieilds losing less trade to thecity centre than Harari owing to the former'sgreater distance from the city.Ł Table IReplies to Part 2 of the Questionnaire*Ł 1QUESTION1. Is the range of goods intownship shops suffi-cient?2. Is the range of shops inŁ township sufficient?3. Have you suggestionsfor new shops in town-ship?4. Are prices in townshipshops higher than inCity Centre.5. Where do you prefer toshop? In township orCity Centre?fe. Where do you spendthe most money? Intownship or City Centre?7. Have you comments tomake on township shopsor their shop assistants?Harari% Yes30,025,685,481.783,172,560,0% No70,074,414,618,3CityCentreCityCentre40,0Highfields%YES35.841,884,774,069,056,251,7VcNO64,258,215,326,0CiiyCentreCityCentre48,3> Part 2 of the questionnaire was intended toelucidate the overall pattern of shopping and' determine whether there were any common de-sires for further facilities in the township shop-ping centres. In reply to the question askingI y ,. whether the range of goods in the township shopsis adequate some two-thirds of the answers were>in the negative (see Table I). Comments on thisaspect of shopping served further to confirm thisŁ situation. The African shopkeepers are seriouslyundercapitalised with the result that the rangeof goods carried as extremely limited and choicevaries little from shop to shop. The range ofshops in the townships was stated to be inadequateby a majority of residents in both cases althoughthe slightly better facilities in Highfields are re-flected in the smaller proportion of Highfieldsresidents cniticising this aspect of shopping. Wheninvited to make suggestions for future develop-ments a number of facilities were mentioned fre-quently. There is a strong demand for a wellstocked chemist's shop with a qualified phar-macist in attendance. At present a few shopsexist that sell patent medicines but neither town-ship has any provision for a doctor's prescriptionto be made up. The second most popular requestis for a large modern supermarket operating onthe self-service principle. Many replies suggestthat there are too many small shops (generalfood shops total 44 in Harari and 40 in High-fields) with a restricted range of goods. Inherentin the desire for a supermarket are the benefitswhich accrue from a wide range of Sow pricegoods under one roof where customers mayeasily compare litems before a choice is made.Further requests include a good bookshop-stationer and an hotel. Both townships certainlylack the former and only the most rudimentaryitems of stationery can be purchased in a few ofthe general dealers' stores. Children in need ofschool-books must necessarily visit the city centrefor their requirements. The desire for an hotelis easily understood for apart from the beer-gardens there is no facility for social meetingsand entertainment in premises with a liquorlicence. There is also a need for hotel accommo-dation and a restaurant providing simple mealsat reasonable prices. There are nine 'eating-houses' in Harari and six in Highfields at thepresent, but these are mostly small and cramped,offer little variety of food and are generallyunattractive in appearance. Other requests forspecialist shops include an electrical and/or hard-ware shop, a bakery and confectioner and oneselling car spares. The last request may be un-realistic, but the others are not. A request forincreased banking services was frequently voiced.Both townships possess two small bank branches(not in the main shopping centre in Harari),but these are insufficient for a population of some50 000 persons in each township.A high proportion of the sample populationsstated that they considered the prices of goods inthe townships to be higher than prices in the citycentre. In both instances a majority expressed apreference for shopping in the city, 83,1 and 69,0per cent for Harari and Highfields respectively,while some twelve per cent in each case declared37that they spent most money in the city. Numerousexamples were cited in the returned questionnairesof goods being more expensive in the township;in many cases some fifty per cent higher thanin the city. It would appear that the Africantraders with small premises, little capital andlow stocks attempt to increase their profits byraising prices. The concept of low profit margins,high turnover and increased overall profits iscertaiinly not evident. As a result, the bulk ofthe population finds it worthwhile to shop incentral Salisbury, notwithstanding costs of trans-port and time. A number of residents stated thatprices in the townships for a particular articleare not always fixed and that the more prosper-ous looking the customer, the higher the price;and children often appear to be victims of suddenprice rises.The preference expressed for shopping in thecity is closely related to the generally lower pricesin this area and also the greater range andbetter quality of goods available. This is par-ticularly true of clothing. Both sample popu-lations expressed severe criticism of the qualityof goods available in the township shops. Whilstthe cheapest shirt might be bought in the town-ship, the quality is often very low and customersare obviously aware that the cheapest goods donot necessarily represent the best value formoney. The wide range of specialist shops andattractively displayed goods in the city centre,along with the desire 'to see and be seen'further explain the preference for shopping inthe city. Many of the requests for new shopswere for those selling articles such as shoes andclothing which are already available in the town-ships; and this is therefore further evidence of thedesire for specialist shops selling articles of highquality. Comments on shops and shop assistantswere often highly critical. Shops are criticised forbeing too small and cramped with goods piled highon shelves suspended from walls and ceilings andpoorly displayed. Shop assistants are noted fortheir lack of training and knowledge of goodson the premises. A number of questionnairesrefer to unhygienic handling of foodstuffs byshop-assistants and suggest that the townshipauthorities institute regullar inspections of foodshops.The populations of Harari and Highfields de-pend to a very large extent on the shoppingfacilities provided by the city centre of Salisbury.Most of the purchases made in the townships arefor small, low cost items and as the cost of goodsincreases so a greater proportion of the popula- *tion shops in the city centre (see Fig. 1). Ofthe Harari sample population 72,5 per cent statesthat it spends the most money in the city an4 «,half of the food purchases and the bulk of theclothing purchases are made outsiide the township,*In consequence the African traders in Harariwould appear to gain only a srnaill proportion of *the total trade emanating from the township.A situation which results from small, crowded,"under-capitalised shops owned by inexperience^ 4traders and staffed by untrained personnel. High-fields is in a similar situation although it loses* Łless trade, partly because it is farther away fromthe city centre, and partly because if enjoys re- Ł*tail and service facilities somewhat superior tothose in Harari. Approximately three-quarters"*of the food purchases of Highfields residents ar| Amade in the township, but more major pur-chases are made in the city centre where a,majority of the sample population claims to spendthe most money. Ł*Whilst the object of this exercise was to sur-^vey the situation as it stands, suggestions forimproving shopping facilities in the townships ^would seem logical in a conclusion. Any improve-ment in the commercial and shopping facilities inthe townships would enable the African tradersthere to gain a greater proportion of the total""trade generated within the townships, lower thetransport costs of each family and ease the strain *on an already crowded transport system. The^low capital base from which most of the Africantraders start would appear to be the root of the Ł>problem. Many traders are obliged to sink mostof their capital into the erection of trading pre- *mises, so that little remains to acquire adequatestocks and run an efficient business. Shops couldbe improved in size, appearance and functional^efficiency if those running them were able to usetheir finances in operating a business rather thara .,building premises. The provision by townshipauthorities of modern spacious business premises <which could be rented out to traders might greatlyimprove shopping facilities. Township author- "*ities would then be able to exert a greater in-fluence on the use of commercial stands, generalappearance and efficiency, whilst the African _,traders could better utilise their capital in opera-ting a more efficient business. Lower prices and *more competition between shops would probablyresult in increased use of the township shops iproviding benefits for both the traders and residents of the township alike.38APPENDIXSample QuestionnaireHarari Shopping SurveyPART 1Where do you buy the following types of goods?Please place an 'X' in one column for eachquestion to show where you buy the most goods.Type of PurchaseMusika The MainShopping- ShoppingCentre in Other Shops Area inHarari in Harari Salisbury1. Small purchases ofMILK, BREAD orSUGAR* 2, Main purchases ofVEGETABLES3. Main purchases ofGROCERIES4. Main purchases ofMEAT5. Small items ofCLOTHING suchas socks^ 6. Purchases ofSHOES7. BIG items of CLO-THING such as_, men's trousers orwomen's dressesPART 2Please answer the following questions by cros-sing out the wrong answer:1. Do the shops in your township have enough differ-ent kinds of goods? YES/NO2. Are ihere enough kinds of shops? YES/NO3. What other kinds of shops would you like to seein the township?4. Are the prices in the township shops higher thanin the centre of Salisbury? YES/NO5. Where do you prefer to shop? HARARI/SALIS-BURY CITY? Say why6. Where do you spend the most money? In HARARi/SALISBURY CITY SHOPS?7. Is there anything you would like io say about theshops in Harari, or about the shop assistants? Ifso, please write your comments on the back ofthis sheet.j ACKNOWLEDGMENTThe survey was made possible by a grant from the Research Board of the University of Rhodesia.''The assistance of officials in both Harari and Highfields Townships is also gratefully recorded.REFERENCES1. The present study forms part of a wider investigation into service centres in Greater Salisbury. See:SMOUT, M. A. H. 1970 A Functional Classification of Shopping Centres in Greater Salisbury. Rhod, Sci. News,A 4, 126-9.1970 Suburban Shopping Patterns in Greater Salisbury. Proc. geogr. Ass. Rhodesia, 3, 41-9.-* 2. Population figures are given in RHODESIA 1969. 1969 Population Censuses: Geographical Distribution (PART I:Preliminary Results of the 1969 Census of Population). Salisbury, Central Statistical Office, p.4. Data on areas» and households were supplied by the Township Authorities at the time of survey.39