Some shops at Johannesburg’s airport may be grounded because they are overcharging for their goods, writes Lungile Madywabe
SOME duty-free shops at Jo-hannesburg International Airport have been ripping off airline passengers and a shake-up has been pro-mised.
Overcharging has been conceded by the Airports Company, the government-owned company which owns all the country’s airports, in the face of a Mail & Guardian investigation. The discrepancies were discovered by the company after an audit of some of the franchised shops at the airport. It plans to take action against the offenders.
The pharmacy and the duty-free sports shop at Johannesburg airport are the two retailers that head the list of overchargers. Sports shop Sneakers, for instance, charges R350 for imported Reebok Bladeline running shoes at its airport branch, but the same shoes sell for R249 at a Sandton store with the same name — a difference of R100.
The pharmacy charges R7.95 for a 100ml tube of Aquafresh toothpaste and R6.95 for a pack of 24 Disprin, while its Sandton branch sells them for R4.95 and R5.95 respectively. A 400ml bottle of Listerine Mouthwash which costs R21.95 in Sandton is R2.00 more at the airport pharmacy.
However, the airport does offer a better deal on nasal spray than Sandton — it’s five bucks cheaper at
The liquor store in the duty-free area, too, was found to be overcharging on some of its products — their 750ml Bells 12-year-old is R105.90 compared to Solly Kramers in Braamfontein’s price of R72.55. It sells for R73.80 at the Houghton Liquor Store.
A 750ml bottle of sambuca is R31.95 at the airport as compared to R30.65 at the Sandton branch, while Amarula is 55 cents more at the airport. A tin of red Grapetiser is R3.50 at the airport and R2.95 at
One of the few duty-free stores that sells its products at discounted prices is Sagad, where one Estee Lauder product of R158 costs R42 less than at Edgars and a 10ml bottle of Poison perfume is R30 cheaper than Edgars’ R450. CNA charges R79.59 for a Best of Joan Amatrading compact disc, the same as it charges at its other stores, even though there is a substantial duty on cds that should be subtracted from the retail price.
The Airports Company is taking the breach of contractual agreement very seriously. ”There is no grey area — they either abide by the rules and continue doing business here or they leave this place if they don’t want to. I have got more than 200 applicants waiting,” says Wayne Holder, commercial manager. According to Holder, the airport offers more than 20 000 jobs which contribute to the national and local economy, and it cannot afford to project a bad public
The manager of the airport pharmacy, Colin Harris, declined to comment on why they overcharge, saying he does not answer questions relating to prices.
Gary Matthews, manager of Sneakers at the airport, said their store had no connection with the Sandton shop and that perhaps Sneakers Sandton was cheaper ”because they were having a sale.”