Obuasi Hosts Ashanti's Biggest Supermarket

A new multimillion-cedi supermarket, wholly owned Ghanaian and comparable to the Accra-based Koala, Woolworth and MaxMart supermarkets, has been opened for business at Obuasi in Ashanti Region.

LizMart is one of the biggest in Ashanti and apart from the basic manufactured food dairy products and imported drinks stocks carried by these supermarkets, this particular supermarket has a special unit within the premises for telephone and internet/intranet communication business for business people and the general public as well. It also carries local and imported textiles, apparel and wax prints.

The over C 2 million {two billion cedis} new supermarket, located near the famous Len Clay Sports Stadium, was opened for business last January, is owned by Mr. Albert Quagrine and family.

In an interview with with the Managing Director of LizMarket, Mr. Quagrine, who is an accountant by profession and doubles also as a businessman, said - "taking advantage of the government's oft-repeated Golden Age for Private Business slogan, my family and I decided to invest our fortunes in the mining town of Obuasi to contribute our quota to the development of the country."

Obuasi is currently one of the most populous towns in the country and its population of more than 230,000 people, confirms it as one of the fastest growing townships in the country, thanks to the presence of Ashanti Goldfields Company, which employs thousands of Ghanaians in the area.

"Obuasi has some supermarkets of some sorts all over but if you need basic things like exotic wine, Cornflakes, bacon, sausages and quality alcoholic beverages, you don't have to go beyond LizMart", according to Lawrence Turkson, a Mine Captain at Sansu Underground Mine. According to Mr Quagrine, "specifically our major objective is to further stimulate the local economy, which is already dominated by Ashanti Goldfields, and offer alternative investment with a view to creating employment avenues for the locals."

Ashanti Goldfields alone with a labour force of more than 6000 workers in Obuasi, he noted, has generated a host of opportunities for private individuals and groups to take advantage. This is exactly what LizMart has invested to do. He appealed to the Ministries of Trade and Private Enterprises to assist local businesses with technical and financial assistance to enable them expand their operations with made in Ghana products.