John Street

Cash-and-carry wholesalers anchor the informal economy in ways that visible retail doesn't. They're where spaza shop owners actually get their stock, where tavern operators build their drink lists, where catering operations source at scale. John Street operates inside a web of small business owners who depend on accessible wholesale to stay viable. When stock arrives and prices hold, those traders can manage their own cash flow better. That stability ripples outward — better-stocked local shops, more reliable service for neighbourhood customers. In Randburg, where formal and informal retail exist side by side, wholesalers like this one are infrastructure for how ordinary people actually access goods and how small entrepreneurs keep operating in a tough economy.