“On Another Level”: New Checkers With High Tech Features Has Mzansi Rushing to Westwood Mall
- A woman shared a video of the new Checkers store at Westwood Mall in KwaZulu-Natal
- The store has a robot that greets customers, a pineapple cutting machine that slices fruit and a coffee printer that adds pictures to drinks
- People from other provinces flooded the comments, saying they wished they had stores like this in their area
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Source: TikTok
A woman from KwaZulu-Natal gave South Africans a tour of the new Checkers store at Westwood Mall in Westville, and the high-tech features have left shoppers seriously impressed. On 1 November 2025, she shared the video, showing all the fancy upgrades that this store has to offer. The clip went viral with over 11,000 reactions and hundreds of comments from people who couldn't believe what they were seeing.
The video showed a greeting robot at the entrance welcoming customers as they walked in. The woman explained that the robot doesn't just stay in one spot but moves around the store, greeting shoppers throughout their visit. Then came the pineapple cutting machine, which takes a whole pineapple and slices it perfectly in just 15 seconds for only R20.
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The woman also stated:
"The new Checkers at Westwood is on another level. This branch is fully halaal with the buffet section, a tandoori counter, and all the sweets and savouries you could ever want. They even have a coffee printer where you can have your picture or design printed directly onto your drink."
The tour showed rows of food options, from spicy dishes and savoury snacks to fried chicken, burgers, doughnuts, cream puffs, cakes, and fresh fruit. There was a butchery section, a sweet section, whole rotisserie chickens in the deli and even pistachio croissants.
The coffee machine, as the woman shared, allows customers to add their own pictures or text, which then gets printed onto their coffee. The variety and extra services made shopping feel less like a chore and more like an experience.
Source: TikTok
Mzansi reacts to the new Checkers store
South Africans had a lot to say about the upgraded store, with many wishing they had something similar in their provinces:
@rez_117 complained:
"Cape Town needs to get with the program."
@reece warned:
"Absolute chaos! The lines are crazy all day long, wait for the hype to die down! But other than that, the place is lovely."
@kj joked:
"I will drive 1,600km for the pineapple experience! 🤩🥰"
@mc_gule_inkosi_yo_mc asked:
"When did it open?"
@nileens19 questioned:
"Joburg???"
@parbashni_soobramoney gushed:
"Love it 😇❤️😍 Been there on Thursday. My new favourite Checkers ❤️❤️❤️"
@nolan_emmanuel shared:
"I saw an item for just R6? Good shopping here 😁"
@trophy_wife laughed:
"I'd live there just for the cut pineapple 🤣🤣🤣"
Checkers opens the largest halaal-certified store
According to Shoprite Checkers, the store officially opened on 31 October 2025 and is now the largest fully halaal-certified Checkers in South Africa. The store created over 212 job opportunities within the local community.
Content creator @frommytable_sa, who shares a lot of food-related content on her TikTok page, gave viewers the full tour. The store features a food court, a beverage bar with Indian-inspired drinks, a deli with wood-fired tandoors imported from India plus Turkish doner machines for shawarmas. The store also has a bakery and a butchery that specialises in 100% halaal meats.
Halaal means food and products that follow Islamic dietary rules. For example, the meat of an animal must be prepared in a specific way and blessed before being taken. Halaal also means no pork, no alcohol and no cross-contamination with anything not allowed in their diet restrictions.
Watch the TikTok clip below:
More South African grocery shopping stories
- Briefly News recently reported on a birthday celebration that went wrong when a chocolate cake from a popular retailer was found covered in mould.
- A UK man visited a Woolworths Food store after his followers kept asking him to, and his reaction to the quality of the goods had South Africans feeling proud.
- A Nigerian woman compared grocery prices between South Africa and Nigeria in a viral video, and the price differences left viewers stunned.
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Source: Briefly News
