A spaza shop, also known as a tuck shop, is an informal convenience shop business in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, usually run from home. They also serve the purpose of supplementing household incomes of the owners, selling small everyday household items. These shops grew as a result of sprawling townships that made travel to formal shopping places more difficult or expensive. In recent times

Somalis in South Africa Somalis in South Africa are residents of South Africa who are of Somalis, Somali descent. The earliest communities were formed in Cape Town and surrounding areas in the late nineties and early 2000s. A number of Somali-South African residents have ...

are noted for running spaza shops in black townships. South African banks are trying to win spaza shops as "bank shops" offering minimal banking services at lower costs than full bank branch offices. The link to the bank's back office is mostly via

mobile phone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...

based mobile banking.

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Business in South Africa {{SouthAfrica-stub