Store visit - DORP General Dealer

After 3 years of living in the platteland, Suzanne Boje returned to Cape Town, but felt there was something missing in the hustle and bustle of the city. Where could she find homemade gingerbeer and mosbeskuit like her grandma used to make? When she and longtime friend Dalene van den Berg spotted an open retail space in Roeland Street, they decided to bring the "platteland to the city", and opened DORP General Dealer.


Dorp is the Afrikaans word for "little town", but it's also a bit more accurately translated as a "one horse town", where there's one store that sells simply everything, and the tannie who runs it knows all your business too!

DORP aims to be as South African as possible, stocking homemade jams, preserves and fresh produce, all sourced from nearby towns like Montague, Wellington and Stanford. It also stocks a selection of basic grocery products like toothpaste, cleaning products and canned food, to service tenants from the surrounding apartments.

“In DORP you will find a little bit of everything”, says Suzanne. “From a ball and claw tv cabinet to apricot sweets to traditional Boereseep, renowned for its stain removal abilities."

So next time you're in Roeland Street, Cape Town, and feel like stepping into farm time, get yourself a koeksuster and a seat beside the lifesize farm scene on the back wall, and appreciate a bit of platteland hospitality, courtesy of DORP.