Sidley’s Checkers story reads like fiction

Steven Boykey Sidley has just launched his latest book, Checkmate: How Shoprite Checkers rewrote the rules and won. The SA Jewish Report caught up with him between launch events. 

What made you want to tackle the Checkers story? 

I’ve always been a Woolworths/PicknPay loyalist. And then one day, soon after moving to Cape Town, I wandered into Checkers Hyper and said, “WTF”. It looked like Disneyland. I wanted to know how they got there. 

What research and work did you put in before you started writing? 

There was a massive amount of research, an Alexandria library’s worth of information on the company because it is so big – South Africa’s largest by revenue and employees, who number 170 000. Plus, it is now much more than a provider of groceries. It’s a national institution providing products to 35 million South Africans. Data, stats, anecdotes, news, interviews, analysis, stores, Sixty60 stories, ex-employees, employees, executives, shareholders, and shoppers. It was an embarrassment of riches, and the challenge was to mine it for the most interesting story I could tell. 

What were you trying to achieve with the book? 

First, to tell the story of an astonishing ascendance of the company post-Whitey Basson to a position of unchallenged competitive dominance, but moreover to get the reader to have fun while reading it, because the journey from 2017 is surprising and, at times, a little wild. And sometimes even amusing. 

Much has changed since Clive Weil and ‘twolley for twolley’. How have the ethos and identity of the company changed since then? 

Oh yes. It’s primarily an advanced technology company now, one that happens to ride on retail rails. Weil would not recognise anything about it other than its fuzzy store outline, especially if he peeked into the back offices where the data wizards play. 

Would you call this a business book, or what genre of writing would you put it in? 

It’s a book about a business, but it is not a business book. I am in the story. It reads more like narrative non-fiction. The reader doesn’t need to have any interest in business at all – there are strange and smart and unconventional humans all over the Shoprite Group stage. It is also about the transformation of South Africa and its habits. 

What was your process in writing this book? 

I structured the entire story by writing the narrative arc – it really does read like a dramatic plot – then a short description of each chapter. Then research and write Chapter 1, then research and write Chapter 2, then research and write Chapter 3, etc. Then read and refine, read and refine, read and refine. 

In this instance, what does ‘unauthorised’ mean? Did Checkers big guns see the final version? Were they in agreement from the get-go? 

No, they saw nothing until this week. They had no control, no approval, and there was no commercial arrangement with them. I had to be very charming to get the interviews. I guess they trusted me somewhat. 

What is the magic of Sixty60? Why is it so successful when there are other retailers offering the same or a similar service? 

It is a completely unlikely story. I don’t want to spoil it, but it starts with a Zulu boy in Limpopo and eventually gets its nuclear fuel from a global pandemic and a corporation’s willingness to take a risk on some starry-eyed techies. 

What did you learn from this project? 

Writing a book about a business was as much fun as fiction and technology, my two other playgrounds. 

Was there anything that astounded or surprised you in what you found out? 

Almost everything surprised me. Read the book, you’ll see. 

• Checkmate: How Shoprite Checkers rewrote the rules and won will be launched in Cape Town at Exclusive Books Constantia at 17:30 for 18:00 on 15 October, and at Exclusive Books Hyde Park in Johannesburg at 17:30 for 18:00 on 20 October.