Carnival Day at Metraclark’s relocated Randburg branch

Suppliers and customers at the official opening ceremony of the new Metraclark Randburg store. 

By Eamonn Ryan | All photos by © RACA Journal 

On 26 January, the new Metraclark Randburg Store held its official opening celebration by inviting suppliers and customers to its new premises at Unit 16, Skyway Business Park, Freda Road, Strydom Park, Randburg.

Having outgrown its previous Randburg premises in Tungsten Road, Metraclark selected Skyway Business Park due to it having more space for a larger branch capable of holding more stock, says branch manager Quinton Anderson. The physical move occurred in September last year and having now settled in, it was decided that the time was right to invite customers, suppliers and other guests such as RACA Journal.

“This is our official opening for this new location. Our previous premises were relatively nearby but were no longer suited to the volume of business we are doing, which has picked up — as it has for most of our stores over the past year. We therefore moved the site to acquire more space. Today this is a bigger branch with more floor space where we can increase stockholding. We do the entire refrigeration and air conditioning range, some domestic but the majority is commercial. We sell complete refrigeration systems, condensing units, evaporators and components in addition to the Carrier and Sinclair air conditioning units,” says Anderson.

Anderson has worked for Metraclark for over 10 years, starting as a counter salesperson and then as an external sales representative. He was first promoted to branch manager at the Metraclark Midrand branch before being given the responsibility of the Randburg branch and subsequently the new store opening.

Metraclark group general manager Kobus Hattingh adds: “We are extremely happy with the company performance at the moment. Notwithstanding the economic disruptions of the past year we have made good progress in the last twelve months. In addition, while it is still early days in 2023, this year has also thus far been off to a good start.”

“In terms of this store’s new location, we are always looking at progress for our branches when leases are up for renewal and we move according to where the industry wants us. Our primary concern is to be close to our customers. The previous location was rather tucked away and inaccessible. We’d been looking around for a while during and after Covid and had been eyeing this site for a while. Covid and its restrictions made it more difficult to relocate branches, though we did two other relocations to superior locations during Covid, but the difficulties in having group activities meant they went largely under the radar. This is actually our first in a while, since Covid,” says Hattingh. “For the relocated Randburg branch, this move has been a very positive one for Metraclark.”

“Our customer base varies somewhat from location to location, but in general our business is commercial refrigeration, domestic refrigeration, air conditioning, industrial refrigeration and the ammonia products. This is reflected in our customer base where we serve primarily contractors. Our competitive edge in this market is our branch network – our store footprint across the country, combined with what I believe is our professionalism, which is reflected in our vision, mission and core values, at the centre of which are customer service and product inventory,” he says.

Metraclark is one of the largest air conditioning and refrigeration wholesalers in Southern Africa with 33 branches throughout Africa. The product portfolio ranges from small domestic refrigeration spares, commercial refrigeration products right through to large industrial CO₂  equipment, coupled with a full air conditioning offering, from residential and light commercial air conditioning to VRF and large commercial systems. It has an in-house engineering and design team and over 60 years of experience selling and supporting its products in the African market.

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