“WE are going home!”
These were the words of an overjoyed Hellen Scriven, owner of the iconic Westway Café in Cape Road, which has become synonymous with booking tickets for local shows, at the announcement that the store is moving back to their roots in Cotswold Extension.
Hellen and her husband, Desmond, started the Cotswold Extension Supermarket in Lewerkie Street, Cotswold 20 years ago, but had to relocate to Cape Road 13 years ago after the owner of the building needed the space for something else.
The store had been in Cotswold for about seven years and they had also lived in the same street.
“We were very sad to leave because our little store had become part of the community.”
The building has recently been acquired by Pieter Rademeyer, who contacted the Scrivens to find out if they would like to move back. “I did not even think about it. I immediately said yes!” Scriven said.
“Our new store will be bigger and also offer lots more, such as takeaways. Our trading hours will be longer to accommodate the school children of Moregrove Primary and the quarry staff. I am so grateful to Pieter for considering us as tenants.”
The Scrivens started the store when Desmond went on early retirement.
“At that time I was an area manager for a big retail store and I was driving 7000km a month. So, when Desmond retired, I decided to resign and we opened our store, the Cotswold Extension Supermarket in Lewerkie Street Cotswold Extension.”
She started selling show tickets by chance. “When we were still at our Cotswold store, we were approached by (singer) Arno Jordaan’s father, Paul Jordaan, and Sarel Botha to sell tickets for a show. From then it escalated from selling tickets manually to selling online on Westway Tickets today.”
Three years ago Westway Tickets became a fully-fledged online operation, with people being able to book and pay for tickets online on www.westway.co.za instead of coming to the shop to purchase tickets. Hellen’s son, Mark explained, “Other ticket sale websites work differently to ours.
“We designed it in such a way to best suit our customers, with that personal touch, because that is how we have always done our business.
“We will continue with Westway Tickets in the same way as before. It will not be affected by our move at all,” Mark said.
“Our Facebook page name has changed from Westway Café to Westway Tickets. No changes to the tickets system or website will be made. The only change is the venue where tickets can be collected,” he said.
The new store will be named Cotswold Extension Café and Takeaways and their trading hours will be from 06:00-21:00 Mondays to Saturdays and 08:00 to 17:00 on Sundays. The store is situated on the corner of Lewerkie and Hoepoe Street, opposite the Moregrove Primary School. Some of the services and partners in store will include Devine Water, Sterling Silver Jewellery, Jack’s Beard Oil, IT on the Move (including CCTV), Vape Juice, Alcock’s Fishing Tackle and Geek World.
The new store will have an opening bash on July 7 with the XWE Wrestlers from Cape Town.
There will also be stalls, a cosplay competition and the popular Die Baaienaars will perform at the event. Entry is free and the event starts at 10:00 with the wrestling at 13:00.
