SOUTH AFRICA. The taped sounds of African wild life beckon the traveller towards the Out of Africa store at Cape Town International Airport. Animal skins and a range of items from clothing to crafts are on show as you draw nearer. Once you look inside, the colours, the range and the sounds call you irresistibly in.
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Out of Africa – Destination Merchandise at its best – draws the traveller irresistably into a voyage of discovery; Notice the spot lights built into the wooden sticks above the store; (Below left) Ralph Grootboom, a member of the wonderfully friendly sales team, poses with his ‘colonial friend’ | |
Out of Africa is Destination Merchandise at its best. On offer is an incredible range of high quality African merchandise, from fashion and accessories to children’s items, homeware, wood carvings, ostrich eggs, African themed games, toys and local music. Beads, jewellery, clothing, crafts – it’s all here.
The staff, clearly enjoying themselves hugely, smile and sway to the rhythms of the music. You feel like dancing too as Joe Mafela’s Shebeleza belts out around the room and you go on a journey of discovery around this quirky store with lots of nooks and crannies, a cross between an old-fashioned antique shop and a chaotic second hand store.
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The diversity of offer is breathtaking and there’s a price point for everyone. | |
It’s a deliberate and highly successful effort to create something very different to the average bland airport Destination Merchandise shop. There’s even a mezzanine floor offering elegantly displayed modern South African crafts and offering a great panorama of the shop below.
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The store captures the glorious colours of the rainbow nation | |
There’s something for everyone here. The writer bought some African music, a couple of beautifully motifed T-shirts, some great children’s themed games and a pile of knick knacks as presents. Before I knew it I had run up a spend of about ZAR1,500 (€161) all wrapped nicely and placed in an attractive Out of Africa shopping bag by about the friendliest staff it has been my pleasure to deal with in many years of international travel.
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| Beautiful local arts and craft abound in this treasure trove of a store | ||
Out of Africa is owned by South African travel retail giant Tourvest. In a profile last year in our “˜A Sense of Place’ special report, Eric de Jaeger, Managing Director of Tourvest’s Tigers Eye Destination Merchandise Division described the Out of Africa stores as being “an expression of African culture and heritage, which provides the ultimate African shopping experience”. It’s not often that you can say that airport shopping lives up to that sort of billing – but Out of Africa does.
Out of Africa and out of this world.
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| The mud-effect stairs (centre) lead the traveller up from the delights below to a range of modern South African craft | ||
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