HCP researchers Ndeyapo Nickanor, Lawrence Kazembe, Jonathan Crush and Jeremy Wagner publish an evaluation of the African supermarket revolution in Namibia in Development Southern Africa. This paper focuses on Windhoek, Namibia, showing that the city’s food system is dominated by South African and local supermarket chains. Since the end of apartheid, South African supermarket chains have expanded their operations into Namibia. Supermarket domination of Windhoek’s urban food system is a function of proximity of South Africa and integration into South African supply chains. In other African countries, supermarket penetration has been much slower and is even being reversed. The paper points out that explanations for uneven penetration in different countries require greater contextualisation and more case study research.
