The Memoirs of Benny Goldberg

Larger than Life:
A Legend in His Time
The Memoirs of Benny Goldberg

Benny and Sylvia enjoying a night out, always

together as in their entire married life
Benny an Sylvia with both sons and grandsons in
2006
Benny with Stanley and the two grandsons, Brad

and David, in formal wear
Benny with Mark and Stanley. What tall sons!
All of us at Wayne and Lauren Goldberg’s

wedding in Plett on 11 September 2005 Benny ecstatic at Nederberg Auction
after paying top price for this bottle.
This was the charity part of the
Auction
Foreword
It was Benny's final wish that this book be written and it is a
privilege for me to honour him in this way. It is with great joy, and of
course some sadness, that I offer this book to you, as a shared tribute to a
remarkable man who has touched all of our lives so profoundly.
With great respect and thanks, I acknowledge each of you for the
role that you played in his life. Your love and friendship was treasured by
him. In your own unique way, you all contributed to the life story of this
man named Benny Goldberg (of blessed memory), a man who was so
greatly loved and admired that his legacy continues to speak long after he
has left this world.
My sincere appreciation goes to Gwynne Robbins and
Maureen Rooke, whose assistance in the collating of this book was
invaluable to me.
Finally, deep gratitude to my sons, Stanley and Mark
Goldberg, and Michael Fridjhon - your unwavering support has enabled
me to fullfill Benny’s dream, and I know that he joins me in thanking
you.
I am blessed to have shared 54 years with my soulmate, and I
thank Hashem for gift of the life of a truly extraordinary husband,
father and friend.
Chapter Page No
1 You ain’t seen nothing till you've experienced the vibe 1
2 In the beginning 5
3 Messenger and bottle washer 15
4 Enter Sylvia 25
5 Benny’s innovations 39
6 The next generation 47
7 Our staff 63
8 Our customers 71
9 Our suppliers 79
10 Fighting a price war 87
11 Executives’ Association of Southern Africa 93
12 American Conventions 97
13 From Boeing hangar to supermarket 105
14 The world’s largest supermarket opens 117
15 King of liquor and queen of wine 129
16 A toast to my customers and friends 143
17 The end of a legend 149
Chapter 1
“You ain’t seen nothing till you've experienced the vibe"
Bob Connolly, Rand Daily Mail's cartoonist, once asked:

"Why did Senator Horwood open the Benny Goldberg Liquor
Supermarket in the morning and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in the
afternoon on the same day?”
The answer: "He did the one with the largest turnover first."
The Benny Goldberg Liquor Supermarket was, at one time listed by
Johannesburg tour guides as a
“must-see”. It became a common
sight for us to watch groups of
tourists traipsing through our
aisles.
In 1980 a visitor came in
asking for a conducted tour. He
mentioned he was in the liquor
industry in Texas. Of course I
obliged. As he walked through the Senator Owen Horwood fascinated with the
aisles, he was amazed and selection of wines, being shown around by the
Goldbergs
delighted at our fine and far-
ranging selection of liquor and our well-designed displays. I was pleased at
his enthusiasm but thought nothing of it and returned to my office and my
order book. Soon it was my turn to be amazed and delighted when a letter
arrived from San Antonio, Texas, from a Mr Ben Nurick - that visitor. He
invited me to do a presentation on our supermarket at a meeting of the Wine
and Spirit Guild of America in Dallas, Texas.
The Wine and Spirit Guild of America limited its membership to one
person per state, the majority of members owned large chains of liquor
stores. As everything is bigger and better in Texas, it was a great honour for
a Texan bottle store chain owner to invite a Transvaal sole bottle store owner
to be his guest at a guild meeting, and in 1981 my wife Sylvia and I went off
to Dallas armed with an audio-visual presentation prepared by our son Mark
and our advertising agents.
1
This elite group of liquor merchants gave us a very warm welcome

and we enjoyed sharing ideas and learning about their different views on
subjects of mutual interest. After all the formalities I was called upon to
address the meeting.
In our audio-visual presentation we had given prominence to the
interior design and layout of the store and I explained the purpose and
reasons for many of these features. I told them that we had a demarcated
area for the rubbish, which was then removed.
The Americans seemed impressed but interrupted me in the middle of
the presentation.
"What do you mean that you want to remove 'rubbish'?”
That is when I realised that Americans do not speak English. They
speak American. The misunderstanding and breakdown in communication
cleared as soon as I understood that I should have used the word “trash”. I
quickly learnt to get my vocabulary right!
I received a standing ovation when I finished the presentation. Ben
Nurick jumped up and said “you ain’t seen nothing… I have been there and
experienced the vibe”.
The member from New Orleans asked if he could copy some of my
ideas as well as our advertising campaigns and use these to promote
American liquor stores and at a later stage he reported on the success of
that campaign.
Having left school with a Standard Six certificate in my pocket, this
was a compliment indeed.
I was subsequently invited to become the only non-American
member of the Wine and Spirit Guild of America. Although we have long
since been out of the industry we are still honorary members and have kept
in touch with some delegates and through our membership have developed
long-lasting friendships.
2
“You ain’t seen nothing till you've experienced the vibe”
This book is the story behind that visit and

behind Bob Connolly’s Breakfast Quip. It is my story,
and the story of my family, my friends and my many,
many customers who became my loyal supporters
and my friends.
3
Three Johannesburg mayors and Benny playing golf in the 70s.

From left: late Pieter Roos, lifetime friend Alf Widman, Benny
and dear fried J.F.Oberholzer (known to us as Obie)
4
Chapter 2
In the beginning
I suppose it was inevitable that I should go into the liquor business. I

grew up in a hotel. My father, Sam Goldberg, was in the hotel business, as
was my grandfather Mordechai (Motke) Goldberg, before him, and, for all I
know, probably my great-grandfather Eliyakum Getzel before that. In
Eastern Europe, where my family came from, Jews had traditionally been
involved in the liquor trade and had run taverns, inns and hotels. Two
hundred years ago a third of the Jews managed estates leased from
absentee landlords or ran village inns, a third were in trade and the rest
were craftsmen.
In 1896 the Russian Tsar Nicholas 11 passed a law making dealing in
liquor a state monopoly. This had three major consequences. It increased
state revenues. It put about 100 000 Jews out of work, and Motke Goldberg,
aged 51, previously an inn-keeper in Shadova (Seduva) a town near
Ponevez (Panevezys), Lithuania, was no longer able to support his family of
seven children.
As a result, my grandfather left Shadova in 1896 with his family and
travelled to South Africa. It was a courageous decision for a man of his age
but he knew there were limited options available to him in Shadova. There
was major poverty in Lithuania - in some years more than half the
community had to receive help from Jewish community organisations to buy
matzah for the festival of Pesach. A man of action with a family dependant
on him, my grandfather decided to seek work in South Africa. I do not know
what he did when he arrived in South Africa, but in 1899 the South African
war broke out. Of the estimated 12 000 Jews then living in Johannesburg,
about 10 000 left, some as refugees just before the war, others because
they were not given permits allowing them to stay. When the war was over
and life returned to normal my grandfather became an innkeeper again and
started a hotel in Johannesburg. It was what he knew best. Even though, by
law, the hotel had to remain open over the Sabbath being Friday night and
Saturday, all profits from this period were given to charity and known as
“Shabas Gelt”, meaning Sabbath money for charity.
5
I presume my father grew up helping his father in the Shadova inn.

He was 17 when their right to run the inn and sell liquor was taken away and
the family moved to the “City of Gold” at the foot of the world. He too was to
become an hotelier and ran the Belvedere Hotel in Johannesburg. Then the
Ritz Hotel, the Ophirton Hotel, the New Berkley Hotel and, lastly, the
Bertrams Hotel - all these hotels are still in existence. All these hotels, like
the inns, sold liquor. The hotel bars made more money than the hotels did
even with accommodation and food.
It was in a bar belonging to Barnet Wainstein that the first Hebrew
congregation in Johannesburg was established at a meeting in 1887 and by
the time my grandfather arrived, there were three congregations. The
London Jewish Chronicle wrote that the difference between the three
congregations was that the members of the first were proud to call
themselves Jewish, the members of the second thought Jewish, and the
members of the third acted Jewish. My grandfather, a devout Jew, acted
Jewish, and so became one of the founder members of the third synagogue,
the most orthodox in practice, the “Greener Beit Hamedrash” in Fox Street,
Ferreira Town, which today is in downtown Johannesburg. It was the first
orthodox synagogue in Johannesburg and had been established three years
earlier by Jews from Eastern Europe, who were known as "Greeners",
meaning “green”, because, as new immigrants, they were raw and ignorant
of South African customs and ways.
Besides being devout, Grandpa Motke was charitable and hospitable,
values that were passed down to us. Grandpa Motke and Grandma Miriam
made a point of searching out other newly arrived “Greeners” from
Lithuania and offering them hospitality and assistance.
Through the shul, he became involved in the affairs of the Jewish sick
relief society, the Bikkur Cholim, (which means "visiting the sick") which had
been established to help the ailing poor with medical assistance and
nourishment. Jews regard visiting the sick as an important obligation
because it provides emotional solace to the patient. The Talmud states that,
“Whoever visits a sick person takes away one-sixtieth of his suffering”.
Bikkur Cholim societies were part of Eastern European social assistance and
this society had been established soon after the first Jewish congregation
was established.
6
In the beginning
To be sick meant to be without an income, but to be admitted to

hospital meant additional problems as well. There were language problems,
which led to an inability to describe their symptoms or follow instructions
and the food provided by the hospital did not conform to the Jewish dietary
laws. As a result many devout patients refused to go to hospital. The Bikkur
Cholim established their own men-only Jewish Hospital, which at one time
had thirty beds, but this closed down in 1897.
Then followed the war and the exodus of the Jews from the
Witwatersrand. From 1902 the British Government started to allow them to
return to Johannesburg but the economic depression following the war
made it hard for the newly arrived immigrants to establish themselves. My
grandparents helped as much as they could. Grandfather helped to
establish a Kosher Kitchen that was installed in the Johannesburg General
Hospital in 1904. At first it fed between 30 and 40 patients and the women,
including my grandmother, raised money to buy the food. Whether his hotel
was involved with providing the food, I do not know, I just know that he was
one of the Kosher Kitchen's founders. By 1909 the Kosher Kitchen was
feeding 735 patients three meals a day.
Grandfather passed away on 25 July 1916 aged 69 leaving seven
children, George, Feige, Lazarus, Sam, Ethel, Lipman and Rebecca. His
tombstone reads:
Mordechai, the son of Eliyakum Getzel Goldberg.

A man of kindness, whoever was hungry he satisfied.
His deeds were to save the poor
and all the unfortunate ones.
One of the founders of the Beit Hamidrash
and the Bikkur Cholim of Johannesburg.
My father Shmuel Michau (Sam), their fourth child, was born in

Lithuania in 1879 and came out to South Africa when he was only 17. He did
not immediately become an hotelier. As was common among new
immigrants, one of his first jobs was running a concession store within a
mine compound. Many of the Eastern European Jewish immigrants who first
7
arrived in South Africa towards the end of the 19th Century became
smouse, peddlers who pioneered trade in the economically undeveloped
hinterland of South Africa, opening up shops and businesses in country
towns. By the 20th Century, most of these openings had been filled and the
new immigrants found jobs working in concession stores and restaurants
catering for black mine-workers.
My father's concession store was in a mine that employed many
Chinese miners. After the South African War ended in 1902, it became
difficult to find blacks willing to work in the gold mines so the mine owners
decided to import unskilled Chinese labourers instead. The “Celestials”
started arriving in 1904, resulting in racial prejudice. They were blamed for
white unemployment. This was not true because the existence of cheaper
unskilled Chinese labour enabled more gold crushing stamps to be dropped.
More gold crushing stamps dropped enabled more skilled whites to be
employed, however, but when it comes to prejudice, facts jump out of the
window. There was political agitation, horrendous - and false - stories of
Chinese banditry, warnings of Yellow Peril and a miner's strike in 1907.
When the dust settled, the Government decided on the compulsory
repatriation of these Chinese workers and by March 1910 the experiment
had ended and the last of the 100 000 Chinese had been returned to China.
My father, however, was never prepared to allow local prejudices to
affect the way he treated fellow human beings and he treated all his
customers in the same polite and quiet manner, mindful of respecting his
neighbours and preserving their dignity.
So it was that when a Chinese customer returned a half-eaten tin of
sardines, saying that they were “bad”, my father exchanged that tin without
question. Elated at being treated with a respect so rare in that district, the
customer left but did not forget the incident.
Some months later my father went to the compound oblivious of the
fact that a full-scale riot was taking place. Too late to turn around he was
swept up in his rather capitalistic-looking suit and bowler hat (which was the
fashion at that time) and was held aloft, an object of ridicule.
After a while, he heard murmuring below with the words “sorry,
sorry, don’t be frightened”. Running alongside him was that same customer
who had returned the tin of sardines. Suddenly, at an opportune place, the
8
In the beginning
Chinese man seized my father and hurled him over the compound wall to
safety and freedom. Both men had carried out the commandment of
respecting one’s fellow man as one’s self.
I would guess that this incident took place during the 1907 riot - after
1910 there would no longer have been Chinese mineworkers. "Remember
the sardines” has become a by-word in the Goldberg Clan and the staff used
to caution each other to treat people with respect and dignity. This
philosophy has, I believe, also influenced the way that I have tried to treat
my customers.
In 1915 he married Rebecca (Becky) Preiss in Johannesburg. Both
their fathers had arrived in South Africa in 1896. Motte Preiss was a much-
married man. Because her father had had three wives, Becky had a large
family of siblings and half siblings. She had a twin brother, Ben who had four
children - Thelma, Kenny and Sydney, all of whom live in Israel to this day -
and Henry, who became a Supreme Court judge in Pretoria. We are blessed
to have them. Henry used to remark that he was known in chambers, not as
Judge Preiss, but as "Benny Goldberg's cousin" with the addition - "Can you
get us some of those special wines?" (During the 1970s these wines were in
short supply during a red wine shortage and not readily accessible.)
My father was a devoted husband and father who by his example
ingrained many philosophies in us. Of prime importance to him was honesty
and trust. He firmly believed in equality and having a positive attitude. All
this was second nature to him. Like his father, he too was charitable and
when he died in 1941, at the early age of 62, from a fish bone that caused
the infection, we summed him up by inscribing on his tombstone:
Whoever was hungry he satisfied.

He saved the poor and the unfortunate ones.
Sam and Becky had 5 children - Max Henry who became a doctor and
married Joan Hoffman on 10 June 1945 in Muizenberg, Cape Town; myself -
Benjamin Zelig - who married Sylvia Sacher on 15 March 1953 in the Great
Synagogue, Johannesburg; Hannah, known as Cissie who married Solly
9
Meltzer on 7 July 1940 in Berea Shul,

Johannesburg; Miriam, known as Bunty who
married Abe Levenstein on 14 January 1945 in
Berea Shul, Johannesburg and Hilly who
married Sylvia Davis on 29 June 1947 also in
Berea Shul.
We were all born within six years. I was
the second eldest. I was born on 24 July 1919
in Ferreira’s Town, then part of the
Johannesburg central business district, where
the Magistrate’s Court now stands. As can be
All 5 of the Goldberg family. From imagined my mother had her hands full and my
left: Benny, Hilly, Max, Cissie and early years were far from quiet, to say the
Bunty
least. Living next door to them were Mr and
Mrs Solly Kramer. When my eldest brother Max
was born, it was Mrs Kramer who taught my mother how to bathe and care
for a new-born baby. Solly Kramer had a bottle store. I cannot claim that
my own career choice was due to environmental influences, because my
parents then moved to Soper Road, Berea where Hannah (known as Cissie),
Miriam (known as Bunty) and Hillary (Hilly) were born.
My father later became an hotelier and took over
the Ophirton Hotel in Garland Street, Ophirton, only a
couple of miles from the city centre. The entire family
of seven plus the English “nanny” moved into the top
floor of the hotel which became our home. We had our
own bedrooms, dining room, lounge, kitchen and
bathroom in an area that was absolutely segregated
from the main part of the hotel including its boarding
section and bar.
Growing up in a hotel had its advantages as well
as its disadvantages. It was very exciting - never a dull
moment living in the hotel. The miners and the local
Sailor-suited Benny working class customers of the suburb were rowdy and
(which was the fashion
of the times) rough people, particularly on a Friday night. What was
most important was that our family stayed together
10
In the beginning
and we shared in each other’s activities. I remember we were still staying in

the Ophirton Hotel when Solly Meltzer came to court Cissie. We three
Goldberg boys thought he must be a really important guy as he was driving
a 1938 Orban Cord. Not many young people will have heard of this car but
today it would be worth many millions.
At one time my father ran a hotel together with his brother, Lazar.
Partnerships with close family sometimes work, and sometimes do not. In
this case it led to an argument, and the brothers did not speak to each other
for years. Sadly my father was so busy in the hotel, he did not have much
time to spend with us, so there are huge gaps in my knowledge about him
and his own background. If my father was a go-getter, my mother was a
sweet, quiet homemaker and I was very close to her particularly as I was the
last of the children to get married and had spent some years living together
with her in her flat. For many years after we were all married, even as late as
during the 1950's, Max, Hilly and I used to have lunch with her at least once
a week in her Burton Court, Hillbrow, flat. This was quality time.
One of the most traumatic experiences of my childhood took place
when I was about six. The chef had decided on chicken for the menu of the
day. Unbeknown to him, I was standing nearby when he chopped off the
rooster’s head, which then catapulted onto my chest. I panicked and wanted
to run but was frozen to the spot at the sight of what seemed to me to be
rivers of blood. I shall never forget the horror of that episode. I was
paralysed and in shock for what seemed to be an eternity and have never
since eaten poultry in ANY form including duck, turkey, etc. This has on
many occasions over the years caused our hostesses great inconvenience
and my wife some embarrassment.
I started school at Booysens Primary School, closely following Max
who was only fourteen months older and a hard act to follow. I was a non-
conformist from an early age and it was at primary school that I became an
expert at playing truant. My parents would not have believed it, even of their
little “monster”. One thing that sticks in my mind was that I was one of the
few pupils fortunate enough to have shoes. It was during the recession and I
was one of the lucky few who had a roof over my head and food to eat. In
those days many of the children came to school barefoot (I guess many kids
today still go barefoot).
11
One unforgettable experience was our first holiday at the seaside. It

was in 1931 and my mother took all five of us children to Cape Town for a
holiday. As my father was unable to leave the hotel, she bravely managed
her clan on her own. We travelled on a steam train, second class, all in one
compartment. A house had been rented in Lakeside and the big treat was to
go by train to Muizenberg beach which was, and, as far as I am concerned,
still is the finest beach in the world.
To get to the beach we had to cross a railway crossing. When a train
approached, a bell would ring and wooden booms would descend, closing off
the railway line from the road. When the bell rang, my mother held onto as
many of us as possible, until the train passed and the boom opened. She did
a quick roll call, shouting, “Max, Benny, Cissie, Bunty… Oy… where’s Hilly?”
Where was Hilly? He had gone up with the booms that had got stuck in
his jersey. When the booms went up, so did tiny Hilly, pulled up along with
the boom! We had to wait for the next train to pass before the booms came
down again and fortunately he came down safe and sound. We have laughed
about Hilly's journey ever since.
The next major hurdle was my barmitzvah. Rabbi Goss came to the
Ophirton Hotel and taught all five of us together to read Hebrew. He
prepared me for my barmitzvah as he had done for Max.
The barmitzvah took place at the Orthodox Shul in Ophirton, which
was run by Rabbi Mirken, close to the Ophirton hotel. The Hotel still stands
although the name was changed to “Over Houghton”. Unlike Houghton, an
elite suburb where our former president, Nelson Mandela, and present
president Thabo Mbeki lives, the Ophirton Hotel is situated in an industrial
area.
My parents gave me the option of having a party to celebrate the
occasion or a radio known, in those days, as a wireless. I chose to have a
crystal set and had endless pleasure from it. That was until my father threw
it over the balcony to settle a fight over it between Max and myself. That was
the end of the argument. Unfortunately it was also the end of the wireless.
My adolescence coincided with the rise of Nazism, a philosophy that
attracted many sympathisers in South Africa. One Nazi organisation that
developed was a paramilitary organisation called the Grey Shirts. It had
uniforms, discipline and salutes and was established in 1933 by Louis T
12
In the beginning
Weichardt, an early convert to Nazism. It spread rapidly among young

Afrikaners and soon Greyshirt cells were active throughout the country. We
were horrified by its constitution which called for the immediate revocation
of South African nationality to Jews, the treatment of Jews as merely
temporary guests, and the protection of South Africans against being
ousted by Jews from any trade or profession.
The Greyshirts organised meetings in small towns to provoke hostile
feelings against the local Jews saying very bad things about the Jewish
people, for example, a Greyshirt election leaflet stated three reasons why
the reader should not vote for a Jew.
"FIRSTLY because he cannot be an Englishman or an Africander (sic),

and a Jew... once a Jew, always an alien! SECONDLY, because the
Jew is an alien to the highest degree. He is repugnant to and not of
ones own. Let him keep to his race, you keep to yours! THIRDLY, you
will be a disgrace to the European community and the Aryan race if
you vote for a Jew, because he is an Asiatic and NOT a European."
Young Jews from Doornfontein and other Reef suburbs and towns
would go round and try to break up their meetings and there were often
serious clashes with violence and arrests. One cell regularly held their group
meetings opposite the Ophirton Hotel. But no matter what terrible things
they said about getting rid of the repugnant Jews, they used to add that
those comments did NOT apply to Sam Goldberg and his family at the
Ophirton hotel because this was their local drinking spot.
School was not a happy place for me. Having completed primary
school, I went on to Forest High School where I was not what one may have
called a “model student”. I was indeed a persecuted, unhappy scholar. Even
when I copied my brother Max’s essays, for which he had been awarded
70%, I only managed to obtain a miserable 40%, despite having included
the teacher’s corrections to his work. I thought this most unfair.
A further blow to my education came at exam time when I could no
longer rely on Max and had to write my own Afrikaans essay. There was no
way I could manage that. I was terrified at the thought of the exam and
successfully played sick. My reprieve was short-lived! When I returned to
13
school the following day, I was summoned to the headmaster’s office to

write the Afrikaans essay. I was so unnerved that I froze and could not even
put pen to paper. Needless to say, all I could manage to hand back was a
blank page.
The next step for me was to inform my parents that I wanted to quit
school. They were certainly not happy with my decision but reluctantly went
along with it, realizing that my reasoning was acceptable. I then had to buck
up the courage to approach the headmaster. He had to accept the inevitable,
and after some harsh words, gave me permission to leave school provided
that I could find myself a permanent job. Whew, that was a relief as I had full
confidence in myself.
I immediately mounted on my bike and went off to the employment
division of the Jewish Board of Deputies, armed with my Standard Six
certificate, great enthusiasm and plenty of chutzpah.
At the interview I was told of a vacancy for an office boy at the Zionist
Record, a Jewish newspaper. With the optimism of a 13½-year-old I rode my
bicycle to its office, which was situated in the centre of Johannesburg, and
was given the job. How good it was to feel that I was entering the workforce
and no longer had to worry about teachers, homework and writing essays. I
rejoiced in my new-found freedom.
I think at the time my parents were rather relieved that my siblings
did not decide to follow my example in leaving school early. Cissie and Bunty
went to Commercial High School near Joubert Park. Max became a doctor
and Hilly studied architecture. But for a boy who left school after Standard
Six, I did not do too badly.
14
Chapter 3
Messenger and bottle washer
My optimism was deserved, because I landed the job at the Zionist
Record. My duties included taking editorial copy from the editor to the
printer and then to go back there to collect same to return to the editor, Mr
David Dainow. He outlasted me. I was the office boy for approximately a
year; he was their editor for over twenty years. My responsibilities included
general office work and everything else a messenger could be given to do.
My salary was £5 a month.
I felt wealthy and confident and I gained experience which was to
stand me in good stead later on. Dainow was to publish Our Shadchan, a
humorous satire on the tribulations of a marriage broker. That sort of
problem was the last thing on my mind.
My father was a customer of a wholesale liquor merchant, J D Bosman
and Co. He approached the owner, Mr Ben Judaiken, who gave me a job as
the general office boy. On my first day I was sent to be trained by the store
manager, Mr Bob Storbeck, who took me to the back of the store where
there were concrete tubs filled with cold water, used for bottle washing. How
well I remember scrubbing those bottles with a hand brush. This certainly
was no youngster’s dream of glamour but for me, it was my introduction to
the liquor industry.
I did not know it then, but dealing with liquor had long been a typical
occupation for nice Jewish boys. In Eastern Europe the Jews had
traditionally been tavern keepers, innkeepers and hoteliers. When the
Russian government decided to take over the liquor trade monopoly in
1896, hundreds of thousands of Jews were forced out of work. This was not
done to save the Christian peasants from the immorality of the Jewish
drinking places and the clutches of the greedy Jewish innkeeper, as the
antisemitic propaganda would have had it, but to provide the government
with an additional source of income. As for the propaganda, surprise,
surprise, the government found that the poor peasants drank as heavily
under the new Jew-free government monopoly as they had done before.
15
As liquor dealing had been one of the comparatively few occupations

open to Lithuanian Jews, it was not surprising that many of these Jews
returned to it when they arrived in South Africa. Licenses were granted for
the first time in Johannesburg on the 10 November 1886.
By 1890 there were 77 canteens or bars on the Witwatersrand,
meaning Johannesburg and the surrounding reef towns, a quarter of which
were owned by people with recognisably Jewish names. It was a profitable
way to make a living on the thirsty gold fields and one that required little
initial capital outlay as the liquor could be obtained on credit. When a total
prohibition on the sale of liquor to blacks came into effect in 1897, about half
of the canteens near the mines closed down. Blacks could then only buy
liquor when in possession of a permit signed by a white employer. Some of
these regulations were still in force when I started working in the liquor
trade.
I enjoyed working at J D Bosman and Co. and the responsibilities it
offered. I had duties besides bottle washing. I would be sent to Customs &
Excise with relevant documents and a cheque to pay the duty on the liquor
that was due to be removed from the bonded warehouse, which was a
separate area of the liquor wholesaler.
The normal amount that was withdrawn from the bond store did not
exceed ten cases of various whiskies such as Dewars White Label, Johnnie
Walker, Crawfords, Haig and Black and White. When Mr Judeiken did not
have sufficient funds to meet the cheque for the duty, he borrowed from his
friend, my father, Sam Goldberg.
A lot of the local liquor came in barrels. These had to be siphoned into
a small hand-filtering machine before going into the cleaned bottles that I
had washed. When that was done, the next step in the process was to cork
each bottle and carefully attach each label with glue, making sure that the
label was perfectly straight and in the same position. I was involved with this
process and getting the labels glued on straight was no easy feat. Only then
were they ready to be put into stock. I also assisted with the making up of
orders for delivery.
With all these responsibilities, my knowledge of the whole liquor
distribution process was certainly growing and I enjoyed working at this
company. It beat school and writing Afrikaans essays any day.
16
One never knows how or whether one will benefit from experience. In
my case it was only in later years that the value of what I learnt during these
years became evident.
My life was not all work. One of my favourite recreations was ballroom
dancing and I bought my first set of white tie and tails when I was 17. In
1938, aged 19, I won a cup for the Novice A Tango at the South African
Ballroom Championships. I was so thrilled. My partner was Eadie Freinkel
and to this day I still treasure the trophy, which, I might add, was not very
big at all.
As a result of the impression made on
me by my first memorable holiday in
Muizenberg, as soon as I was able to save
enough money I went to Muizenberg. This
time I was a gay, young bachelor with some
friends - although "gay" meant something
quite different then.
I became friendly with a fellow from
Cape Town named Archie Brauer. He must
have been well over six-foot two-inches and
with little me five-foot four-inches next to
him, we were quite a sight! Sylvia and I
remained friendly with the Brauers ever after.
Olga, his wife, said they were delighted when
Sylvia came onto the scene. So was I! Archie Bachelor Boy in 7th heaven on
Muizenberg beach
passed away some years ago, but our
friendship with Olga has continued despite
their emigration to Canada where they followed their two daughters who left
many years ago. She has spent many happy years reaping great pleasure
from her family.
Olga has a unique sense of humour. When she got an e-mail telling
her that I was writing this book, she called and reminded me of this incident.
In 1941 she and Archie had gone to West Reef Mine in Orkney where
Archie was to manage a hotel that was opening and Olga was to work as a
bookkeeper in a country store. The hotel belonged to the Oppenheimers,
the wealthiest family in South Africa at the time, and Phillip Suzman. When
17
the hotel opened, the Suzman and Berman sons-in-law decided to throw a
party for 500 guests. After a discussion with Sir Ernest Oppenheimer, the
decision was made that as they had just employed Archie and Olga they
would not need the services of a caterer.
As a newly-wed, Olga knew nothing about catering, and certainly not
about catering for five hundred people. She cried the whole week. In
desperation they decided to come and see me and drove all the way to
Johannesburg. Olga recalled that we welcomed them warmly and I said, “No
problem, come with me". I took them to a very posh hotel in the centre of
Johannesburg named Lutchies Langham.
I pulled them into an alleyway at the back of the hotel and told them
to wait there to meet the chef. Eventually the chef came out to have a
cigarette and I spoke to him about their terrible predicament and he agreed,
for a sum of money, to go to Orkney on his weekend off and he gave Olga the
list of food that he would need to cater for 500 people.
“We were living in a boarding house in Klerksdorp with a Mrs Cohen",
said Olga. "We had told her that the chef would be arriving on Friday
morning. Naturally, we were shaking in our boots, hoping he would arrive -
the alternative was horrifying! Early Friday morning, Mrs Cohen knocked on
our door and said there had been big trouble at midnight. A black man had
come knocking on the door. She was nervous and had told him to “Voetsak!
Go away!” He replied, “Okay. Tell the Brauers that I did try and that I came.”
As soon as Mrs Cohen heard this, she realised that he must be the man for
whom the Brauers were waiting. This tiny woman then opened the door,
grabbed the heavily inebriated man, pushed him into one of the rooms, and
locked the door. Fortunately, by the next morning he had sobered up and on
the Saturday night there was this FANTASTIC party, hosted by Sir Ernest
Oppenheimer. I do not know what we would have done without Benny’s
help.”
Oppenheimer came personally to compliment Archie and Olga for this
outstanding function and said that they could contact him at any stage.
Quite a lot of the cutlery went missing. Many of the guests had not seen such
fine cutlery before and must have taken them home as "souvenirs" of a
wonderful party. Most probably these have by now become family heirlooms
in some miner’s family.
18
Archie and Olga spent a weekend holiday in Johannesburg on another

occasion during their period in Orkney, and came to visit us.
Olga wrote that: "Walking with Benny was, for us, like being with a
celebrity, because it seemed that at least every second person stopped to
say hello to Benny and if it were possible, Benny went up even further in our
estimation. He gave me a round, brass side table, which was high fashion in
those days. I have always treasured this table and it now stands proudly in
my home in London, Ontario, as a constant reminder to me of what a
wonderful friend we were fortunate to have in Benny.”
After I had worked at J D Bosman and Co for about four years, I felt
that I needed to move on and I decided to become a freelance commercial
traveller. I worked very well with many friends including Mike Lurie and Mike
Abel. I took on soft goods and general merchandise and shared a car and
expenses with Mike Lurie, because we called on the same customers.
Once when we walked into a country general dealer, and Mike had
concluded his business, I put out my hand to the gentleman and said, "My
name is Benny Goldberg.”
The reply came, "So bloody vot ?"
Needless to say, not only was the wind knocked out of my sails, I
received no orders from that store.
Another occasion in one of the country stores, I noticed a large stack
of salt.
I remarked to the owner, "You must sell a lot of salt here!"
His reply was, "No, not particularly. But you should see the guy who
sells the salt. Boy, can he sell salt!"
Once Mike Abel and I were returning from Durban on a very cold and
misty night. We decided to stop over at the Mooiriver Hotel. We had dinner
there, and after a while we went to bed in the double room that we shared. It
was so cold that we decided that the only way we could keep warm would be
to put the blankets from both beds onto the one bed for extra warmth and
both sleep under them. In those days there were no bathrooms en suite nor
running water in the hotels. Instead bedrooms would have a dresser on
which would be placed a jug and basin. When I got up in the morning to wash
my hands and then leant forward to wash my face in the basin, I nearly fell
19
out of the window. It was no wonder that we had spent such a freezing night.
To our horror, we discovered that the window had no glass window pane!
Mike Abel and I shared common interests, one of which was acting
and we decided to turn up for auditions for roles in a play called Golden Boy
by Clifford Odets that had opened in New York in 1937 and was filmed two
years later. The play was about Joe Bonaparte, a young man torn between
playing classical violin and becoming a boxer.
Mike and I were both successful in obtaining parts. The producer,
Henry Gilbert, felt there were too many Jewish surnames in the cast and
gave me the stage name of “Benny Boston”. Golden Boy starred British
professional lightweight boxing champion Eric Boon and the young English
actress Gay Gibson, And, of course, Mike Abel and Benny Boston.
As Benny Boston, I was the
shining star as a punch-drunk boxer
albeit for a single theatre season
with a salary of £5 a week. I must
confess that our run was nowhere
near New York’s 250 performances,
and it was cut short because the
powers-that-be decided that the
Standard Theatre in Joubert Street,
Entire cast of Golden Boy. Benny Boston 2nd
from left
a lovely old building built in 1891,
was to be demolished. Golden Boy
was the last play to be staged there and our performance on the last
Saturday in September, 1947 was to be the last play there.
When the play closed, the lovely Gay Gibson took the Durban Castle
home to England. She was pushed through the porthole of the ship by a
handsome steward who was later convicted of the murder. It was said that
her disappearance and the subsequent trial reached a wider audience
through the press than any play at the Standard Theatre had ever done.
The Standard Theatre might have been, as its critics claimed, a rat-
infested fire hazard, but it was a characterful building and I was sorry to see
it go. Even a banner-carrying protest march through the centre of
Johannesburg did not help to save it and it lay derelict for years before the
demolishers moved in. Where it stood the Oppenheimer Park now
20
flourishes. The writer Herman Charles Bosman complained that, " They will
pull down the Standard Theatre like they have pulled down all the old
buildings, theatres, gin-palaces, dosshouses, temples, shops, arcades,
cafes and joints that were intimately associated with the mining-camp days
of Johannesburg."
The theatre experience was good fun and the memory of this episode
in my life will remain with me forever. As much as Benny Boston helped mark
history by acting in the last play to be staged in the beautiful old theatre, so
too as Benny Goldberg. I later helped mark history by shaping and
flavouring the character of this burgeoning city which had little respect for
its historic buildings, but much respect for gin-palaces and liquor stores.
When my father decided to sell the Ophirton Hotel so that he could
build the Bertrams Hotel, I decided to leave the family nest, which at that
stage was in Young Avenue, Upper Houghton.I moved into the hotel so that I
could keep a good eye on how the Bertrams Hotel was being run. One of the
people staying at the hotel was Natie Slavin. He would lay out a large piece
of leather on the hotel room floor and would cut out a pattern. He was trying
to make handbags. In later years, there was a large factory, called, I think,
Slavin Handbags.
I learned a great deal there from working closely with my father.
Sadly he passed away suddenly after swallowing a fish bone. What a pity
that penicillin had not yet been discovered and nothing could be done for
him!
Without my father, it was necessary for someone from the family to
continue running the hotel. Max was a medical student at the University of
Cape Town and could not interrupt his studies to go into the hotel so I had to
do it on my own with part-time help from Hilly, who was studying
architecture.
Max did well and after qualifying as a doctor he went on to specialise
in lungs, with a particular interest in TB and Miner’s phthysis and became TB
Officer to the Johannesburg City Health Department. He was highly
respected in his profession and loved by patients and colleagues alike. Even
though he had most attractive offers to go into private practice, he was
totally dedicated to his work at the hospital and not attracted by the
financial gains.
21
Hilly was a very capable young man, who could use his hands well.
While he was working at the hotel, he met Alan Bernstein, who was working
for an optical company and was invited to fill a position there. After a short
while a vacancy fell open at Raphael and Company, which Hilly filled with
competence but he felt it necessary to inform his boss, Mr Raphael, that he
actually had no qualifications and wanted to go to night school for tuition,
whilst working during the day. Hilly excelled in his work and his studies and
subsequently qualified well and acquired shares in the business. Shortly
after Hilly qualified Mr Raphael decided to emigrate to Israel and Hilly
purchased the balance of shares, borrowing the money to do so from our
mother, who bonded the house to help him. Naturally he paid back the loan.
As Hilly required money, I thought it would be a good idea to send him
to our bank manager, Mr. Walters. When Hilly was young he stammered
quite badly when he was nervous. Of course I forgot that Mr. Walters also
stammered! When they met Mr. Walters became furious when Hilly
stammered. He thought this young Goldberg fellow was mimicking him and
threw him out of his office. Mr Walters phoned me to complain and say how
hurt he was! It took me some time to convince him that Hilly was not poking
fun at him but that he himself had a stammer. Hence, no money from that
source was forthcoming.
Even though Hilly has been retired for very many years, he keeps
himself extremely active with the gift that he has of making professional
wooden furniture, completely on his own. It is a fantastic hobby! He also has
taken an active part in Lions International for very many years and no job is
too menial for Hilly to do for charity.
My work and life at the hotel went on for many years. I ran the hotel
looking after the kitchen, dining room, bedrooms and, of course, the main
business which was the bar area, which only closed at 11pm. I was very
much a young man-about-town who loved dancing and fortunately always
had a good selection of pretty girls to date. When the hotel’s bar was closed
and I could go off duty, I would frequent night-clubs. Some of my favourite
haunts were Red Webber’s nightclub called The Savoy, Henry Rose’s
Diamond Horseshoe and Ciro’s.
New Berkley Hotel corner Bree and Von Brandis street right near the
main Johannesburg post office was a hotel my father actually built with two
22
partners, Oscar Freeman and Morry Holtz. This hotel was leased out and the
rental income enabled them to repay the bond. When all three partners had
passed away, this partnership for the one small building consisted of 15
heirs and it was mutually agreed that the best thing to do would be to sell
this hotel and each heir benefited from 1/15th of the proceeds of the sale.
When the family decided to lease out the Bertrams Hotel, I looked
around for something else to do and decided to go into business with my
good friend Mike Abel, who had experience in the stationery and paper
business. We opened a shop in Marshall Street, Johannesburg, that we
called Bond Paper Company. We worked hard, had fun and did well there.
When I decided to go into the liquor industry I sold my share to Mike.
In 1952 I acquired a bottle store licence, and moved into premises in Louis
Botha Avenue, Highlands North, near to the popular roadhouse called The
Doll’s House.
The staff of my bottle store consisted of my sister Bunty, two
deliverymen on bicycles with baskets in the front to hold the liquor and a
male assistant. With a Standard Six education, my knowledge of
accountancy was poor so my accountant Wally Einstein, came in every
evening on his way home to check up and assist me.
23
Benny and Sylvia in the early days
24
Chapter 4
Enter Sylvia
How fortunate I was to meet

Sylvia Sacher, a comptometer
operator. She was doing an audit at
a company called Vega Fashions for
my friend, Monty Lazarus, who was
a director. Monty thought it would
be a good idea for me to meet her
and arranged for me to have lunch
with this comptometer operator
during working hours. She was
reluctant to meet anyone but Monty
stated that she was working in his
time and this was his instruction.
The date was made for the next day Sylvia, aged 17, joins the working force
and she arrived beautifully dressed

in a white broderie anglaise dress, which set off not only her trim figure but
also her thick black hair.
This 19 year old literally swept me off my feet. Sylvia created quite a
stir but it was her strong spirit that grabbed me.
After that lunch date, I went to play in a golf tournament on the
weekend, which I won, had a few drinks and decided to phone her up and
ask her out. I invited her to go with
me to the Colosseum cinema in
Commissioner Street. During the
interval I went out to buy her a
small box of Black Magic
chocolates, which was the in-thing
for any self-respecting suitor to do.
When I returned I saw that Sylvia
was talking to the person sitting
Proud gran Sylvia always found time to play
directly behind her. It was her Aunt games with Bradley and David
25
Fay and she immediately told Sylvia that she had known me from school
days as she lived in the same vicinity.
Sylvia’s mother, Bertha
Rosenberg, was born in 1909 in a
small town in Latvia named Shubitz,
one of five children, a son and four
daughters. Bertha’s eldest sister,
Annie, had gone to South Africa
many years earlier and was
fortunate to have married Jusman
Sylvia’s first sea-side holiday in Durban, flanked

Feldt, who farmed in the Kendal-
by her mother & father. What an automobile! Ogies area. In 1925 Annie and
Jusman generously paid to bring
the sixteen-year-old Bertha out to South Africa.
In 1992 Sylvia met two elderly ladies who could remember quite
vividly when her mother had left Shubitz to join her sister and potato-king
farmer husband in distant South Africa.
Naturally, young Bertha could not speak one word of English. Annie
and Jusman sent her for one year to Potchefstroom Convent. She took full
advantage of that year and apart from learning
to read and write English, in a beautiful convent
handwriting, the nuns taught her intricate
embroidery skills. We still treasure a tablecloth
that she worked on during that year at the
convent.
The following year she joined the Feldt
family on the farm. Apart from helping to raise
the family of three children, Myriam, Bazil and
Abe, who were all brought up on the farm, one
of Bertha’s duties was to get up around 3am to
make butter from the fresh milk.
In 1931, Bertha met Barney Sacher, who
A gracious lady, Sylvia’s mother,
Mrs Bertha Sacher, who single had come with his parents and siblings to South
handedly took control of the
family after her husband suffered
Africa from a town called Gruzier in Lithuania in
a stroke at the age of 56 in 1960 the 1920’s. Barney had three brothers, Mike,
26
Enter Sylvia
Isaac and Simon, and two sisters, Dora and

Ray. All his brothers were ambitious, energetic
young men who, with very little finance behind
them, slowly started trying to use their
business acumen to make some kind of a living
and contribute towards the family household.
Bertha and Barney were married on 1
November 1931 in the Great Wolmerans Street
Synagogue in Johannesburg. After their
marriage, they moved into a house in 47 Koster
Road, Booysens, close to the Sacher family,
and on 30 January 1933, Sylvia was born at the
Sylvia’s father, Barney Sacher,
Claredon Maternity Nursing Home in Hillbrow. who served in the South African
Her formative years were spent in Koster Road, army during World War II (1939-
1945)
Booysens, closely surrounded by quite a few of
the Sacher family, her grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.
When World War 2 started in 1939, Sylvia’s father enlisted in the
army. My brothers and I did not enlist – Max was studying medicine, I was
busy running the hotel and Hilly was still too young.
With her father in the army, Sylvia and her mother left Booysens and
moved in, once again, with the Feldt family, who now also had a home in
Johannesburg, at 30 Oxford Road, Parktown. Sylvia attended Forest Town
Primary School, a small school where most of the pupils were from the
Arcadia Jewish Orphanage.
When her father came out of the army, they moved into a house at 14
Upper Park Drive, Forest Town. This house was directly opposite the
Johannesburg Zoo, and they soon got used to all the animal sounds,
particularly the nocturnal roaring and howling. After being an only child for
11 years, Sylvia’s brother, Abraham Maurice, who is known as Morry, was
born in 1944, followed by her sister, Hazel, in 1947.
From the age of 11 Sylvia became very independent. I admired this
independence. Her mother had never learnt to drive a motor vehicle and had
a small baby to look after. Apart from the household shopping, which was
done by her father, Sylvia used to catch the bus every Saturday morning to
the central business district to attend to whatever her mother needed.
27
Sylvia also bought her own clothes and did the family shopping.
She started at Parktown Girl’s High School in 1945, cycling to school
each day and she got to know Tyrone Avenue and the Zoo Lake area very
well. She was good at mathematics and knowing that her forte was figures,
she decided on matriculating to do a six-month full time course to train to
become a comptometer operator. The
comptometer, which was in a portable case,
was the start of calculators and eventually
computers. In those days the machine was a
constant wonder to all and sundry and those
who saw Sylvia at work would watch her
operate it.
Sylvia was most fortunate on completing
her course to obtain a job at Mosenthal’s, a
large wholesaler in an imposing six-story
Sylvia with her sister, Hazel and building in Market Street. There were various
brother, Morry at her 60th
departments on each floor and her first job, as
comptometer operator, was to check every
invoice written, together with the extensions and calculations. As she
finished working in each
department, she would return the
invoices to them and then move
onto the next department. Through
this, she made friends with people
in all the departments in that large
organisation.
One of her new friends was
the switchboard operator and when
Sylvia’s 60th birthday, with her family. From left,
Dudley, Hazel, Morry, Sylvia, Rhoda and Benny Sylvia’s work was finished by late
afternoon, she used to go and
watch her manipulating the plugs on the telephone switchboard. When her
friend went on leave, she recommended that Sylvia would be capable
enough to control the switchboard and this 17-year-old found herself
operating that busy switchboard with its ten incoming lines, its twenty
extensions and the many directors who all demanded immediate attention.
28
Enter Sylvia
Fortunately, after a few weeks her friend returned and Sylvia could return to
her usual duties.
Going home by bus one day, one of her travelling companions told her
that the accountancy firm where he worked needed a comptometer
operator as their present one was leaving to marry a Cape Town man, and he
asked her whether she would be interested. An appointment was made for
an interview, the interview was successful and she was offered even more
money than the “high salary” (compared to others) of £17.10 as she was at
that stage only earning £12.10.
Sylvia immediately gave notice at Mosenthal’s. To her shock she was
called into a director’s office and Dennis Mosenthal offered her the unheard-
of increase of £5 per month but she recognised that more opportunities
existed for her at the new firm and she had made up her mind to seek
greener pastures.
From the moment she joined the wonderful firm of Windram,
Wainstein & Freedman, she was made to feel very comfortable and part of
the “family”. Apart from the general staff, there were quite a few articled
clerks, and one of her main duties was accompanying the audit clerk to the
various clients with her Comptometer
machine, where she checked various
calculations and stock sheets and assisted the
clerk with the audit.
To the eighteen-year old Sylvia, this was
a very happy time in her life. She was fancy-
free, and the friendships she made with the
various clients made her work environment
very pleasant. She dated the accountant at one
particular client on a few occasions and when
she decided that he was not for her, she was
summonsed into her audit practice and
reprimanded for being silly to miss such a
wonderful opportunity.
Benny as a bachelor on
While doing stock sheets at another Muizenberg. This is the first
photograph that Benny gave to
client, Vega Fashions, she was called into the
Sylvia in 1952, featuring a very
office of the director, Mr Monty Lazarus, who affectionate message at the back.
29
told her he wanted her to meet a friend of his. Sylvia thanked him but said
she was not interested. She already had a boyfriend, a medical student,
and, as it was October, he was studying very hard for his end-of-year exams.
Mr Lazarus informed her that, as his company was being billed for her
services, he was insisting that she meet his friend during company time.
Sylvia capitulated, saying that it would be okay with her if it was during the
day. Mr Lazarus arranged for his friend to take her to lunch. He would fetch
her the following day from the Vega Fashions’ office.
I was that friend. And the rest is history. It took exactly ten whole
days and quite a few evenings to get an engagement ring onto Sylvia’s
finger. I then realised that I had better take her home to meet my family. My
mother was delighted as were the rest of the family but Max warned Sylvia
how difficult I could be and suggested that she give the relationship serious
thought. How wrong he was. We have already celebrated our 54th wedding
anniversary!!!!!
Our engagement period seemed rushed at the time but we wanted to
share the excitement of the auspicious occasion together with Sylvia’s
parents, who were about to celebrate their 21st wedding anniversary on
November 1, 1952.
While we were engaged we saw a house in Stirling Street, Waverley
and walked around the grounds at night using a box of matches to light our
way. Sylvia and I thought it was great and we
could not believe that it had a large round
swimming pool in the garden. That was before
swimming pools had become a popular annexe
to many people's home. I should perhaps
mention that Sylvia, aged 19, was definitely
not an expert on real estate and as for me,
aged 32, apart from a short stay in Young
Avenue, Houghton, with my family, I had never
lived in a house.
Thanks to my friends who had an estate
agency who helped me, we purchased the
Benny and Sylvia on their house, in which we were to spend 35 wonderful
wedding day, 15 March 1953 years.
30
Enter Sylvia
We were married in Johannesburg on the 15th March 1953 at the Great

Synagogue, Wolmarans Street, with the reception at the City Hall for 1 000
guests for a dinner/dance, for which my father-in-law paid seventeen
shillings and sixpence per head.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The 11 year age gap between me and my siblings kept us apart.
Morry was 9 when he was a page boy at our wedding and Hazel aged 6 was
the cute flower girl.
There was a seven year age difference between Hazel and our elder
son Stanley. In fact Hazel and Stanley often played together and she even
accompanied the family on holidays. Morry married Rhoda Glazer of
Johannesburg on the 11 th January 1970 and they had three sons. Hazel
married Dudley Rubin from Johannesburg on the 6th Jan 1969 and they had
four children two girls and two boys.
Dudley, an accountant, decided to study further on a part time basis
after working long hours during the day and being a husband and father to
four children, he studied at night often burning the midnight oil to obtain an
MBA and H.Dip BDP to add to his CA degree.
Has not only been a brother-in-law but much more as a brother and
sincere, caring friend.
My mother Bertha Sacher who lived with Dudley, Hazel and their
family all spent many Sundays with us as that was the only time the family
could spend quality time together. It was only when we left the liquor store
in 1982 that we had more time to devote to the family and to seeing each
other more often and watching the Rubin children grow.
Morry had already moved to Durban quite a few years before. Most of
the times spent with him besides the occasional visit was on the telephone.
It is only when our mother passed away on the 8 May 1988 that while
the three of us sat Shiva for a week we discovered that there was no longer
an age gap between us and from that time on the three Siblings became
very close which continues today.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
31
After the honeymoon it was back to the business. Some time later
that year, better and slightly bigger premises became available further
down Louis Botha Avenue. It was at a busy intersection and bus terminus
opposite Balfour Park Club, on the corner of Louis Botha Avenue and Athol
Street, Highlands North, and nine blocks away from the first shop and I
managed to get permission to move the bottle store. Being a busy corner,
business improved. Here we stayed till 1958.
We had to employ extra staff and we progressed from bicycles to
three-wheeler Vespa scooters for deliveries.
Sylvia was a brand new housewife and not having much to do at
home, she used to walk to the shop to say hello and chat to my sister Bunty.
Sylvia had an inquisitive mind, she was good at figures and started to ask
questions and look into the work that was being done there.
Our first son, Stanley, was born on 22nd December 1953. I was 33 and
I was over the moon with excitement. That day was just two days before
Christmas Eve and, for a bottle store owner, Christmas time is the busiest
time of the year and Christmas Eve is the busiest day of the year. That
Christmas Eve, while we were waiting for all the delivery vehicles to return
from their rounds, the staff and I had a few drinks to celebrate the
excitement of my son’s arrival.
As it happened this was also the busiest working day that I had ever
had and as I did not have sufficient insurance cover for the day’s cash
takings, which totalled a whopping £2 000, I wrapped the money in
newspaper and I put the parcel into the wastepaper basket. I crumpled
extra papers on top of that and left the store at 11.30pm feeling elated from
the last few days' events.
At 8.30am on Christmas morning I received a phone call from
Detective Watson requesting me to go to the bottle store right away. I put
the phone down saying that I was not in the mood for jokes. Two seconds
later the phone rang again and this time the detective was adamant,
commanding me to get to the bottle store as soon as possible. I realised that
something must have been wrong and rushed over to find the bottle store’s
side door in Athol Street open. Inside the store were Detective Watson and
two other police officers.
32
Enter Sylvia
After my initial shock, I was asked if anything seemed to be missing.

The shelves behind the counter seemed rather empty. I then remembered
the wastepaper basket and its contents and after putting my foot into the
basket to establish that the money was still there, I replied that it appeared
that nothing was missing. It then occurred to me that with the excitement of
the birth of my first son and with the very busy, hectic and tiring day that we
had had the previous day, the busiest day of the entire year, as well as the
celebration drink, I had forgotten to double-check that the door was locked
before going home.
The door to my shop was open, and the liquor was there for the
taking. Believe it or not, not a living soul went into the store.
That was 1953. This story, incredible as it sounds, was quoted in the
Stoep Talk in The Star newspaper.
What actually happened was that when the last bus left Highlands
North Corner at midnight, the driver had noticed that the door was slightly
ajar and he reported this to the Norwood Police Station. I assume that the
police must have put the premises under surveillance for the night. Maybe
they were “thinking” that I had been “planning” some kind of insurance
claim.
In those days liquor was a forbidden comfort for people of colour and
shebeens and illicit liquor dealers were rife. They were only allowed to
purchase so-called “Bantu Beer”, a sorghum product that came in the form
of a milk carton and we sold this when we first started in business. The
packaging was most unsatisfactory and of the total daily stock, we were
fortunate if we managed to salvage about 60%. The balance was a total
mess, which had to be constantly cleaned up. We were so happy the day that
we decided to do away with the sorghum product and just sell well-packed
SA Brewery Beer.
By law the store had to be separated into separate sections for
"Europeans" and "Non-Europeans". We only experienced the prohibition for
approximately 6 years and now, nearly 50 years later, most people do not
even know of this era.
This compulsory separation in the store, while very much a
humiliating feature of the apartheid era, did meet the service requirements
of some of the customers. Even when this segregation was no longer a
33
statutory requirement, we still found that a lot of our customers did not like
shopping in the supermarket even though they were welcome, but
preferred the conventional store counter system.
The store had dark green
painted windows and, in addition to
the signs "Europeans" and "Non-
Europeans", it bore over the door a
sign stating "No persons under 18
allowed". So, for young Sylvia the
first time she had ever entered a
liquor store was when she married
me although she did remember as a
Benny on Durban beach with his two baby sons
having fun in the sun child visiting her grandparents in
Booysens and having to walk past a
"bottle store”.
With the arrival of Stanley, Sylvia was now a house-bound housewife
and quite bored. She got into the habit of taking Stanley for a walk in the
pram to the bottle store in Highlands North and stopping in to talk to Bunty.
Stanley enjoyed the walk. Sylvia enjoyed her visits to the store. The shop in
Louis Botha Avenue was very tiny, and when she saw that help was needed,
she would step in and lend a hand with all the tasks that go with a normal
small retail business. Without realising it she automatically started to learn
something about liquor retailing and some of the products.
My sister Bunty was a great help in the shop. Unfortunately she has a
similar nature and temper to me. We both have a short fuse and to this day
she is called "Benny in a skirt". One
day she had an argument with the
manager and walked out in a rage.
My good angel Sylvia stepped into
the store the very next day. That
was a beginning of a partnership
that has lasted to this very day.
When Stanley was about 18 months
Stanley gives Martha Thale a hug of appreciation old and could be left for longer
for all her assistance over 35 years to the
periods, she started helping out in
Goldberg clan
34
Enter Sylvia
the shop as much as possible.

By 1954 I had begun to be known in the industry and as I was an avid
golfer and a member of the Reading Country Club, I found myself one day in
a game of golf with Bob Connolly, a renowned cartoonist from the Rand Daily
Mail. He did a drawing of me as a golfer teeing off from the top of a brandy
bottle at the 19th hole. I decided I wanted to buy the picture and we both
agreed to a sum of £100 for the cartoon. I immediately thought this would
make a great logo on all the Highlands North Bottle Store stationery and I
used it on letterheads, invoices and statements as well as in our advertising
material which at that stage was not very much.
We continued to use this logo for very many years to come in
Lyndhurst, and it became synonymous with the company and me. Then I
decided to use the picture on ashtrays. We had these ashtrays made
specifically to be “stolen” because in that era people who travelled overseas
or even around South Africa could not wait to show you with pride what they
had “removed” from a restaurant or hotel room. Anything from teaspoons,
other silverware, napkins or guest towels were real treasures. With this in
mind, I ordered these porcelain ashtrays with the golfer logo on it. We used
to leave these ashtrays on counters and somehow they disappeared rapidly
with the customers as they left the store. There are probably many
households today which still have on their bar counters filched ashtrays
adorned with my cartoon.
In 1958 disaster struck. A good attorney friend of mine asked me to
sign surety for him. He assured me it was a mere formality. I believed in him
and did so willingly. What I did not anticipate was that I would be left holding
the baby. There was no way out - in order to pay off his debts I was forced to
sell my liquor store. Then I had to pay out my own creditors. I had always
dealt honourably with the liquor suppliers and always lived up to my
obligations and responsibilities.
After paying everybody, I eventually walked away with the grand sum
of £120. Even fifty years ago this was very little. An extra worry was that we
were expecting our second child.
Fortunately, prior to this episode, I had acquired a peri-urban licence
called Lyndhurst Bottle Store in Johannesburg Road, about two kilometres
from Highlands North and had put in a manager to run it for me. After the
35
debacle of suretyship we moved there. It was traumatic "starting" a

business all over again. With the permission of the new purchaser of
Highlands North Bottle Store who did not want to keep our "book", which
was all our clients who bought regularly on credit and paid monthly, we took
the book and our faithful staff with us to the Lyndhurst store and most of the
customers followed us.
At this stage, Stanley was at nursery school and apart from the
breaks in the day that she spent with Stanley, Sylvia worked right up until
the day that Mark our second son, was born. This was on the 23rd of August
1958. We were thrilled with his arrival and celebrated his bris milah
(circumcision) at the Florence Nightingale Nursing Home in Kotze Street,
Hillbrow, on a Sabbath, 7 days after he was born, with a gathering of family
and friends. Sylvia was determined to be a good mother to both our sons,
but always found the extra time to be active in the store,
“Amazingly, that pregnancy had been great”, Sylvia recalls. ”That was
the time when my hard working career started as we really could not afford
a part time accountant to do some of the work that I was doing. Those were
truly difficult days.Thanks to our wonderfully loyal domestic staff, after a
few months I could still spend a few hours in the store.”
We were fortunate in having reliable faithful staff at Stirling Street,
consisting of Maxson Tkeri and Martha Thale. Maxson was inherited from the
previous owners of the house and was with us for 35 years until his untimely
death from cancer. A more house-proud, dedicated man one could not have
wished for. Martha was with us from before Mark was born and she was truly
a second mother to both my boys and when, after Maxson’s passing, we sold
the house, Martha also joined me in thinking that Muizenberg was a great
place to retire to and even whilst we were living in Johannesburg in our new
apartment, Martha stayed on in Muizenberg and lived very happily in the
Cape for quite a long time. After having received wonderful, caring
treatment for cancer at Groote Schuur Hospital, she too passed away. What
would Sylvia and I ever have done without these 2 devoted and caring
people in our lives?
Our new business grew, our customers knew they would always get
personal service, something few stores offered. Sylvia never abdicated her
role in business where she was responsible for all the administrative
36
Enter Sylvia
responsibilities as well as assisting our staff wherever she could and giving
the best service possible to our growing number of customers. With clever
time management, she coped with her domestic duties such as ferrying the
two boys to and from school as well as seeing to the smooth running of our
home.
I always had a burning ambition to get back to Louis Botha Avenue
and as we were now the holders of a Peri-Urban licence, the only part of
Louis Botha Avenue that would fall under this category was a property on
13th Road, Kew that had parking facilities, so I purchased this site. I applied
for a transfer from Johannesburg Road, Lyndhurst to 13th Road, Kew but the
Liquor Licensing Board refused the application. I walked from house to
house in Kew and Bramley to state my case and to discuss the matter with
those residents. It was quite fortuitous that I knocked on the door of a
retired gentleman who gave me a sympathetic ear and told me that he had
had an earlier visit from the owner of the opposition bottle store in the area
who had frightened him and other residents into believing that if our licence
was granted, chaos would reign in the surrounding residential area.
When I explained that we were running a family and company liquor
store, the gentleman was prepared to give me an affidavit stating what had
occurred during the visit of the opposition store. I took this affidavit to my
attorney, who then presented it to the opposition’s attorney and on the
second application for a transfer of the licence there were no objections and
finally the Goldbergs were back in Louis Botha Avenue.
Our new premises were in a converted garage/workshop, which was
long and narrow. This space allowed me to put up a counter measuring 60
feet in length, which happened to be the longest such counter in any liquor
store. This move proved once again to be successful with all our loyal
customers and devoted staff, who moved with us. Another popular move
was that we were now purchasing unusual spirits, wines, liqueurs and beers
imported for our cosmopolitan clientele.
37
Sylvia having another busy day at the office
38
Chapter 5
Benny's innovations
Traditionally, wine bottles were displayed standing upright on

shelves. I envisaged something completely different and the closest display
unit that I could find was a large, eye-level, three-tier vegetable basket
which I placed in front of the long 60-foot counter. I filled it with wines,
sherries and ports. The price tags for this kind of display was then a real
problem and the only solution that I could find were paper manila luggage
labels tied to the display baskets with a piece of string. Customers started
browsing in these display baskets picking the bottles over for bargains and
new discoveries.
This was, unbeknown to me, the beginning of supermarketing in
South Africa. This was in 1965. My mind was constantly ticking over with
ideas and I felt it was time for change and knew I would have to increase the
size of the premises to do so. I acquired an adjacent piece of ground for the
expansion that I had in mind and in 1969 we moved to this brand new liquor
supermarket, which incorporated many innovative ideas, as well as an
adjoining spacious counter store.
The supermarket had five checkout points, trolley baskets and also a
“calling order” department, which was great for customers who would place
their order by phone to take advantage of our two-tier pricing structure.
This meant that there was one price for cash and carry and another price for
delivery. When the customer, or someone nominated by them, came to
collect the cash and carry order, all that had to be done was to pay for it and
the readymade order was taken to their motor vehicle. If delivery was their
choice, then the higher price structure would prevail to cover the costs for
providing this service.
Apart from the cash and carry business, we operated company
accounts and personal accounts. If account customers collected their made
up orders from our calling order dept, they paid the same cash and carry
price. When they requested deliveries, they were then charged a delivery
price, which was slightly more than the cash and carry price.
39
We tried to think of any ideas that would save the customers more
money and I came up with a Case Lot price, which was even cheaper than
the single unit cash and carry price. This included all case lots. Some of the
most popular areas were case lots of Whisky & Wines.
Some of these new ideas included a reduced price “mixed dozen”
including beer. We even went one step further and purchased a colindictor,
which was invented by Colin Dickman (whose sister Peggy was at Parktown
Girls’ High School with Sylvia). This was, as far as we know, the first
telephone answering machine. My idea was that when a husband and wife
were together quietly at home, they could at their leisure, work out their
needs and phone the order through.
The colindictor was our first telephone answering machine and it was
the start of our after hours service to customers. The first duty we had after
opening the store each morning was to listen to the messages, a duty
performed for many years by our dear, loyal Lily Oshry. This service was a
boon to very many of our customers. They loved the novelty of talking to a
machine. So different from today’s world in which one is genuinely surprised
when a human voice is on the other end of the telephone, and NOT a pre-
recorded computerised instruction telling you what buttons to press.
I did not buy every new invention. Once a telephone sales lady arrived
and tried to sell me the latest invention – a push button telephone. This was
many years before such devices were offered by the national telephone
monopoly, and in fairness, they were of limited use since the phone service
at that time could not support tone dialling. Still, it was considered the latest
in executive toys and she obviously thought I would be a logical candidate
for such a sale.
I bluntly told her she was wasting her time.
“I’ve got perfectly good hands, and they can dial perfectly well
without your new-fangled phone,”
The party service, which today is taken for granted, was initiated by
me over thirty years ago. The service included the loan of glasses, bar
counters, ice buckets, water jugs, tot measures, etc and was completely
free of charge, the only additional costs that the customers could incur was
for broken glasses or missing items. Apart from all the above accessories
needed for a party, one required an “expert” to help ascertain the quantities
40
Benny’s innovations
and variety required for each individual function. Sylvia and I spent many
hours working on this and eventually came up with a printed party list where
everything, including cold drinks, beers and accessories were listed. This
made it easy for taking orders as all that had to be done was to fill in the
brand name and quantity. In this way nothing could be omitted or forgotten.
Space was also left for adding anything special that the customer wanted.
Mrs Isabel Croukamp became a specialist in party orders.
Orders were supplied on a sale or return basis so that the host was
always assured that he would never run dry. The day after the party our
delivery vans would collect full returns, empties, glasses, etc. The account
was then credited with the returns so that when the customer came in the
following day to settle, the account was ready waiting for him. Sylvia took a
very active part in the orders and worked with a team of order clerks, who
also invoiced telephone orders, whether it was to be collected or delivered.
All the while Sylvia kept a hawk’s eye over the operation and the staff were
always aware of the fact that she was available to guide and assist them
whether it was with accounting, computer, cashing up or an order query.
Furthermore, at month end, no company or private accounts were posted
until Sylvia had scrutinised each one. In all the years that she was involved
in our business, Sylvia made sure that, come month end, she would be
available to do so, and no travel arrangements were made without bearing
this in mind.
The party service developed into an association between the
customer and ourselves, so much so that we found ourselves doing a bris or
christening, a birthday, anniversary, barmitzvah, batmitzvah, confirmation,
sixteenth birthday, twenty-first birthday, engagement and wedding all for
the same family. We even did divorce celebrations and second weddings and
wakes. Needless to say over all these years the customer, who by now was a
friend, would never dream of going elsewhere and always bragged to their
friends about their close relationship with us, proudly introducing their
friends to our business. Apart from these social functions, we catered for
large corporate affairs as well as many Johannesburg mayoral functions.
And so the wheel rolled on.
All this reminds me of the ice bucket that I had invented.
For nights on end, I schemed and dreamed about the perfect
41
container to keep ice in its cubed form from melting. I used to take a
notebook and pen to bed and make notes of various things during the night
so as not to forget anything, and after much experimentation, I struck on
the idea of using a polystyrene inner as an insulation in a plastic bucket that
Renou were already manufacturing as a paint bucket. I then requested
Renou Plastics to come to my office to discuss the manufacture of ice
buckets with the polystyrene inners, which were perfected to my
specifications. What a pity I did not have this idea patented immediately.
These ice buckets, which I started forty years ago are still in use today
and are now taken for granted. They are an absolute necessity at any
function. My family and I are the only ones who remember the experimental
stages to perfect this ice bucket. These ice buckets, filled with cubed ice
from the ice-making machines, were also part of the party service and only
after many years did I eventually start charging for the ice. The first charge
was 50 cents per bucket.
As many functions were held on weekends, and the store closed on
Saturday at 1 p.m., ensuring that the ice was fresh could be a problem. I
once again came up with a plan. This time it was to erect a large room on top
of our double garage at home, fitted with ice-making machines and freezer
boxes.
Our dear man, Maxson, was now put in charge of the ice collection
from our home in Stirling Street, Waverley.
How this worked was that when the party order
was completed, the customer was offered fresh
ice as an extra service. If he wanted fresh ice
he had to collect it from Maxson at our home.
Invoices used to be made out to keep a check
on the actual containers to be returned and
also to allow Maxson to make sure he had
sufficient ice in the machines or freezers for the
orders each weekend. To make sure that we
were not disturbed continually from 7am on
Sunday mornings, another bell was installed
Makson and Martha with Frikkie in just before the front door with a sign stating
the garden at Golden Acres in
Waverley, Johannesburg
“PLEASE RING BELL FOR ICE”.
42
Our friends and family who were visiting found this amusing, but it did
help us get an extra hour or two of well-deserved rest on the one day of the
week when the store was closed. Naturally, not all customers conformed
and very often we found ourselves in the driveway with Maxson and the
customers assuring them that the quantity ordered would definitely suffice
their party needs.
Hampers were something
that I started in the early 1960’s. Of
course, at that stage, gift packs
were completely unknown. Neither
Sylvia nor I will ever forget my first
attempt. I purchased small,
cardboard “suitcases” like those
used by 6 and 7 year-olds at the
start of their school career – and
managed to find decanters,
definitely not crystal, three of which
would fit snugly when packed into
this small case. The next step was
that, after hours, Sylvia and I would
line up these empty decanters on
the office desk and would fill them
from full bottles of liquor using a
funnel. My plan was to have a
decanter of whisky, of brandy and of
The best part of bowls for Benny was looking so
gin in each suitcase. This took us smart in white. The Bowling Club across the road
from the Waverley home only saw him for a short
many hours to prepare. When it while. After being a golfer, this did not really
appeal
came to filling the decanters with
gin, Sylvia, who never imbibed any
spirits, drinking only wines and the occasional liqueur, started giggling in
quite a drunken manner and I realised that the fumes from the gin had
slightly intoxicated her. I think we made about four dozen of these special
gift packs.
This was the first original liquor gift pack we created and it was most
successful. Thinking caps went on for the following end-of-year Christmas
43
hamper. This time it consisted of liquor with glasses, but our private
decanting days were over. As the years progressed, we came out with
different ideas every year and eventually started putting bar accessories
and water jugs combined with various liqueurs, cognacs, etc.
In the early 70’s, one of our delightful customers who happened to be
a good friend as well, requested extra special hampers for him to give as
end-of-year gifts. Sylvia really went to town, literally, on a shopping spree
and bought additional items that would appeal as well to the lady of the
household. The first year it was tea sets and the customer came to inspect
the presentation of these gift packs to make sure that they were of a high
standard. These hampers did not come cheap, but he was delighted with
what he saw and handed Sylvia a list of names and addresses where these
hampers were to be delivered, as well as the personal messages that he
wanted attached to each parcel. These hampers were very well received due
to their originality and selection and the recipients expressed their absolute
delight to our friend.
The following year, having full confidence now in what we were doing,
he just handed Sylvia the list of addresses and cards and said, “You choose
what you think is suitable and just give me a price per gift hamper”.
For many years this worked extremely well and Sylvia was
responsible for having removed the burden from our friend as to what gift to
select every year. One year, the hamper consisted of a Salton Hot Tray with
assorted liqueurs, cognacs, 12 year old whiskies, as well as chocolates.
After we had been providing this service for a few years, the
recipients began to look forward to them, knowing that we were carefully
selecting each item in the hamper. One year, we received a phone call from
one of the “regular recipients” on our friend’s list, saying that they had not
yet received their hamper and were wondering what had happened. Sylvia,
realising that our friend must have omitted them from the list by mistake,
told the recipient that she would need to check the invoices to see what had
happened. She then hastily called our friend and he confirmed that he had,
by mistake, completely forgotten to add them to the list. Sylvia then called
the recipient and took the “blame” for the error, saying that it was a mistake
on our side, and asking them to please keep this error a secret. This action
ensured that our friend and his gift recipients remained on good terms and
44
ensured that our friend valued the gift hamper service that we provided to
him even more.
Quite a lot of medical firms, like radiologists and anaesthetists, liked
to show their appreciation at the year-end to the receptionists at each
doctor’s rooms. The usual gift was one bottle of champagne. What a bother
this was. This entailed an invoice for each recipient, a gift-wrapped
champagne, and in addition, we were still expected to write a festive
message. The surgeons also used to send numerous bottles of champagne
to theatre staff at the hospitals they worked in, to complement their end of
the year parties. As a result at Christmas time the Benny Goldberg vans
were often seen as frequently outside clinics and hospitals, as ambulances,
delivering to theatre staff as well as individual doctors rooms.
I was attending to a female customer one busy day when the public
address announced "Mr. Goldberg. Please take a call". I excused myself and
returned as soon as possible, but she was so apologetic,
"I am so sorry to have bothered you, Mr. Goldberg."
I tried to reassure her. “No, no, it has been a pleasure. That is what I
am here for.”
I could not get the episode out of my mind and the next day, I called
in a T-shirt manufacturer. He designed a T-shirt with the Benny Goldberg
logo on the front pocket and on the back of the shirts, in bold writing, there
was the statement "I WORK HERE". Not only did this give the staff a
uniform, but it quickly identified them for our customers.
Michael Fridjhon thought my style was quiet and unflamboyant.
Benny “would often sidle up to customers – especially if he was on his way
into the store or en route home – and in a conversational kind of way ask if
he could be of assistance. People would look at him and not really know who
he was, or why he was offering to help. Small of stature and quietly spoken –
unless he was in the midst of one of his world class temper fits – he never
seemed like the retailing legend he had become. Sometimes people would
accept his offer of assistance without quite working out that they had been
served by ‘the boss.’ Only afterwards they would ask – and then express
astonishment that he had been so helpful, and so self-effacing.”
45
Mark recalled: “We all worked long hours serving customers - as

EVERYONE else in the family did. We all wore the crazy T-shirts, created by
my father, with the logo at the back saying ‘I WORK HERE’. “
I do not think they were crazy. Even Mark recognised that our
customers were often delighted to know they were being attended to by
one of the Goldberg Clan, namely Mark, Stanley, Benny or Sylvia, and would
often refer their friends to come and see us, having confidence in our advice
and knowledge on many products.
46
Chapter 6
The next generation
When Mark was three and a half, and Stanley eight, they both
attended school at King David Linksfield, Mark at nursery school and Stanley
as a seasoned primary school pupil. Stanley
had developed a great love for gymnastics
when in Grade One. Having an older brother
was an advantage in many ways, and with
Stanley’s interest in gymnastics, it was not
surprising that Mark started gym at a very
young age.
We were very involved with their school,
the Linksfield King David Primary School, and
went onto a committee to assist the school to
raise funds to build a gymnasium. We
developed close relationships with the beloved
headmaster, the late Dr Jock Beron, the late
Fun and games at Stanley’s
Jannie Jansen and our very dear friend, Solly nursery school at a “mock
wedding”, where our Benjamin
Berlowitz, who was chairman of the fundraising was dressed in a tutu as a flower
team. We held various functions and sporting girl and naturally stole the show,
bringing the house down with
events to help us raise the funds and were laughter
finally able to build the King David Gymnasium,

which was named the Hillel Berlowitz Gymnasium, after the Berlowitz’s twin
son Hilly, who sadly passed away at the age of five. Solly himself succumbed
to cancer and passed away some years ago.
We lived quite a distance from the school. Sylvia’s programme at that
stage consisted of leaving home at 7.20am to make sure to have them both
at school by 8am as even in 1962 there was a lot of traffic. Then off to the
store she would go and work until it was time to fetch Mark from nursery
school and Stanley from primary school. At some stage, she was in a lift
scheme for bringing the boys home, but she always took them to school
herself. This 40 minutes every morning was their quality time together
where they did not have to listen to continuous "business talk". They then
47
planned their programme for the day and worked out how Sylvia could
assist with the extra mural activities. Sylvia also helped the boys with their
homework during the afternoons.
She was unable to help them with their Hebrew homework, as she had
never learned it in her youth. She decided to go for an hour a week to a
Hebrew class with a wonderful lady. Sylvia never managed to do any extra
studying but within a year the penny had dropped and she slowly started to
understand the language. Not only was she now able to assist the boys with
their Hebrew homework, but was also thrilled that she was able to follow a
little of the synagogue service which was in Hebrew.
“I think of my teacher every Sabbath and realise how she made such a
difference in my life”, recalled Sylvia. “My biggest compliment was when
anyone in shul asked me what page we were on, and I was able to answer.
WOW!
“Right through the boys schooling I was always available for them
and found the time that many non-working mothers could not find and lifted
these other children to extra mural events. Our quality time with the boys
was Saturday from 2pm and the whole of Sunday. We all enjoyed watching
16mm films and often on a Saturday night the boys would invite some of
their friends, and we would invite some of our own family and friends. These
were simple but fun evenings of togetherness. With a large swimming pool,
Sundays were always a relaxing day. Sunday lunch was normally a braai,
which Benny did with great enthusiasm. When the boys started going to
parties on Saturday nights, Benny and I would wait up until midnight to be
able to go and fetch them wherever they might be. Even in the late 60's, we
felt happier knowing that they would be brought back safe and sound.”
As I have mentioned, both boys were very keen on gymnastics and in
particular on the trampoline. Both achieved Transvaal colours and we saw
quite a bit of the country while taking them to many competitive events.
Even Sylvia got herself involved in this sport and went as far as studying to
become an international trampoline judge. Both boys also loved swimming.
As they grew older their other great sport was shooting. Mark later also
developed an interest in soccer, tennis and photography.
Target shooting became Mark's greatest passion. This interest had
started when he was very young and it was permissible to have a pellet gun.
48
The next generation
The popular sport of shooting appealed to him and at the age of 16, with
special permission from us, Huddle Park Pistol Club allowed him to join. The
instructor was Aubrey Gien, and Mark progressed through several
disciplines of sports shooting, and soon found himself competing with the
adult divisions in shooting competitions. He continued the sport and went
along further learning more about target shooting and general security
concepts, knowledge which is still valuable to him to this day.
When Stanley finished school, he went off to the Army, which was
then compulsory, and was fortunately stationed in Pretoria at Voortrekker
Hoogte. After basic training he was in Wonderboom for a month and
because he had done typing as a subject for his matric, he was appointed as
a member of the secretarial staff and transferred to the military
headquarters in Pretoria. This gave him the same freedom as the
permanent staff.
When he finished his army training in 1972, he decided he wanted to
learn more about wines. We sent him to Stellenbosch to learn about South
African wines. As we were now large customers and friends with a liquor
producer and wholesaler, namely Gilbey's, we approached Mr. Alan Bell, MD
of the company, who said that he could come and work at Gilbey's to learn as
much as possible about the wine and liquor industry. We sent him to
Stellenbosch to learn about South African wines.
Sylvia called Mr Bell's secretary, Miss Anderson, to ask if she knew of a
"boarding house" where Stanley could stay. She replied a few days later that
Mr. Bell suggested that Stanley stayed with him and his family for a few
weeks until he could find suitable accommodation. This never happened
because the Bell Family would not let him go anywhere else. Stanley, with
his kind nature, soon endeared himself to the entire Bell family, namely
Alan’s wonderful wife Diane, their daughters Mary-May and Amanda-Jane
and Diane’s younger half brother Graham Retief. Stanley was thus
privileged to be accepted as a member of the Bell Family and he remained
with that family at their home at Kleine Zalze in Stellenbosch.
The year spent in the Cape was a very happy time for Stanley and the
Bell’s children. Not only did he stay with them for the entire year, but he
became an integral part of the Bell family and when we went with Mr and Mrs
Bell to London, that year, Diane Bell was most concerned, running around
49
trying to find gifts for Stanley and her own children.

On that occasion I had been invited on my own to have lunch at 1 York
Gate, the London headquarters of Gilbey's Distillers and Vintners. Sylvia’s
nose was pretty much out of joint, because, although also a director of the
company, she had not been invited to the lunch. Diane and Sylvia decided
that I should be very well dressed for the event, and off we went to the
Aquascutum store, and purchased the most beautiful, light weight navy
blue cashmere coat, for the exorbitant amount - for 1972 - of £100. I must
confess that 35 years later this coat still looks as good as new, is as warm as
toast and is still a proud possession.
It was an extremely formal meal. The chairman Robin Kernick, asked
me what I thought of a certain wine. I replied "Fair".
They did not understand my South African accent and they did not
understand my reply. To them “fair” sounded like "fere".
"Do you mean fair?", (sounding like "fare"), they asked.
I must confess that I did not feel completely at ease during this formal
lunch, and I felt even more uneasy when I spotted Alan Bell get up from his
chair and walk towards me. I was sure he was going to ask me to make a
speech. I was totally unprepared for such an eventuality and the guests
could not even understand my accent. I was so relieved when I realised that
Alan had come to apologise on behalf of Gilbey's who felt extremely
embarrassed as the main course was pork and they had not realised that
Jewish people do not eat pork.
I was so happy that I did not have to speak and I really enjoyed the
vegetables served.
Shortly after my invitation, Sylvia too was invited by Mrs Robin
Kernick to lunch at a smart five star hotel, an invitation also extended to
Diane Bell. At the luncheon, attended by the wives of the Gilbey’s directors,
Diane made a toast. It was a unique occasion for Sylvia because it was the
first time in 20 years that Sylvia, who lived and worked in a man's world, had
ever attended a "ladies lunch".
To get back to Stanley. He spent an entire year in Stellenbosch and, as
he had become quite fluent in Afrikaans, it was a very happy time in his life.
He started working as an apprentice winemaker, picking the grapes in the
50
The next generation
vineyards, and then following through the entire process to the final stage of
the finished product in the bottle. He learnt the distillation process and how
to make spirits. After that he joined the marketing team and became
knowledgeable in the various wine varieties. Apart from spending time at
the Gilbey’s plant, he made excellent contacts with various wine farmers,
estates and co-ops, he learnt a lot about Cape wines, he became friends
with many good winemakers, who at that stage were virtually unknown, and
still managed to have tons of fun in the beautiful, laid back Stellenbosch
area.
Stanley returned to Johannesburg full of enthusiasm to join us in the
business. He first worked in Benoni to get experience with another retailer
and after eight months joined the Benny Goldberg team. Typical of the
Goldberg style, Stanley got involved in the running of all the departments
and then concentrated on the Wine Department. At this stage Cape wines
were practically unknown in the Transvaal. The most popular drinks were
brandy, some whisky and lots of beer.
Stanley then went back to Stellenbosch, this time on a buying trip
under our guidance and railed up, from the Cape, wines from estates and
co-ops completely unheard of and never before seen in the Transvaal. These
wines found their way onto our shelves and with Stanley’s enthusiasm and
his “nose” for good quality wines, these wines started to sell and were
appreciated by many of our customers. Slowly, slowly, wine became the "in
thing" and was a great conversation piece at any dinner party. Of course, it
was always mentioned that the wines came from Benny Goldberg and
naturally this snowballed.
Wine drinking was becoming a much more social drink, away from
spirits and beer and our store was promoting not only South African wines,
but wine from all over the world. Fortunately, Johannesburg and the
surrounds had a large amount of sophisticated and cosmopolitan buyers, in
different age groups, who were enthusiastic to try an unknown South
African wine or delighted to find something from their country of origin.
Stanley was now tasting, ordering and promoting wines in the store.
This wine section kept on expanding. He often went on trips to the Cape
wine lands, reinforcing his friendship with some of the wine farmers and
finding new estates and co-ops. Stanley was placing repeat orders on a
51
regular basis, and the farmers were getting paid for them. When it got to
Stanley ordering container loads of wine from each individual, the farmers
were over the moon that through the Goldberg's, their wines were now
becoming well-known and were being drunk in the Transvaal.
By 1970 the store had become the first liquor supermarket and
stocked ANYTHING to do with wines or spirits, including bar accessories,
books on wine, cigars, chocolates and cigarettes. Stanley tended to place
very generous orders when pretty sales representatives in short skirts came
to sell their wares. The problem was that we now had to try and think of
ideas of how best to dispose of these excessive accessories in a way that
would combine with a liquor purchase. Mark with his flair for marketing and
advertising would step in. We would think up different slogans; we would
change the lighting. We would place dump bins at the end of the aisles facing
the tills in which we put bottles lying loose so that the customers would not
be disturbing the decor in any way by adding a bottle or two on impulse to
their purchases already in their trolleys.
The Goldberg team would spend time deciding on what signage to get
our private sign-writer to create that would promote these offers and
specials. This sharp team was always able to come up with some amazing
offers that NO ONE else in the trade had ever dreamt of or would even try.
One of Stanley’s ideas was pure moon-shine madness. Moon-shine
was the illegal alcohol made in America when the manufacture, sale, and
transport of alcohol became illegal in 1920 with the passing of the 18th
Amendment to the United States Constitution.
However it is common knowledge that if anything is banned, there will
be someone willing to provide it and alcohol was not illegal in surrounding
countries. Distilleries and breweries in Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean
flourished as their products were either consumed by visiting Americans or
illegally imported to the U.S. During Prohibition, some how or other alcohol
still found its way into the "speakeasies", an early forms of nightclubs,
despite the occasional police raid. Among those who made fortunes from the
Prohibition were John. F. Kennedy’s father and Samuel Bronfman in Canada.
This very name indicates a family tradition of liquor trading as Bronfman is
Yiddish for “brandy man” and in previous centuries in Eastern Europe
brandy distilling was a virtual Jewish monopoly. In 1928 Bronfman founded
52
The next generation
The Seagram Company of the United States which became one the largest
producers and marketers of distilled spirits in the world.
The manufacture of alcohol was illegal but the products required to
make it were not. The local country folk could not afford the expensive
smuggled liquor sold in the speakeasies but it was easy for them to buy all
the materials needed and produce the alcohol themselves. It was not long
before profitable home industries were established secretly in backyards or
basements, with carefully hidden stills, lovingly tended throughout the day
by the housewives to supply their own needs or to sell. This high alcohol
content product was called Moonshine.
Finally the US Government faced the harm that prohibition was
causing America. Apart from the loss to the State of tax revenues, the
profitable, often violent, black market in liquor had resulted in an increase in
organised crime with the law enforcement agencies corrupted by powerful
gangs. Thirteen years after prohibition came into force, it was cancelled by
the 21st Amendment in 1933. When Prohibition ended, only half the
breweries that had previously existed re-opened, a fledgling wine industry
had been destroyed and most of its wine makers had either emigrated to
other wine producing countries or left the business altogether.
Stanley had read about Prohibition and moonshine and arranged to
produce a now legitimate brand of moonshine. Made in a porcelain jug,
which was painted, half-wrapped in a 1924-newspaper obtained from the
Star and tied with string, it certainly looked authentic. We called it The Real
McCoy Moonshine. This was promoted for the younger group, aged 20 to 40,
and we think that more fun was had by Stanley promoting this in night clubs
in Johannesburg than was had by those who over-indulged in this high
alcohol content liquor.
Many people will recall a barn dance held in aid of charity where
Stanley did the "Moonshine Dance" believing that he was a cabaret star. This
function was a great success and nobody spoke about the hangovers that
occurred the next day!
Stanley was asked to write a wine tasting column for the Rand Daily
Mail, and even Sylvia, after attending quite a few courses in Stellenbosch,
had her own, "Sylvia's Wine Column". She enjoyed this as she did not have
to be afraid of what she said about any product. She was an independent,
53
and as wine is such a personal taste, she was able to express her opinion
freely. Frequently remarks like, "not everyone's choice" were used to
describe a new wine.
All this time our reputation for fine South African wines was building
up and we, of course, never neglected imported wines from France, Italy,
Portugal and various other countries. A young academic stepped into our
supermarket to see our range of imported wines. This young man was
Michael Fridjhon, a graduate student in English, with a bright academic
future. From a tender age his connoisseur father, Harold Fridjhon, had
imbued in him a deep and informed appreciation of wine. Michael’s hobby
was roaming the countryside, searching out any rare treasure of imported
or well-matured South African wines. These were often obtained at
completely give-away prices, as only Michael realised the value of his rare
finds.
The entire time we were in business, we employed university
students, mainly for weekends and the month of December. We asked
Michael if he would like a summer student job, which he accepted and by the
end of summer, asked him if he would accept a part time position with us
while he completed his honours degree. In time he made the momentous
decision, with a little help from us, to leave the academic world for the
vintner’s trade. He stayed with us full time and then switched to part time,
until 1982, and became one of the most knowledgeable men on wines in
South Africa as well as a renowned wine critic, and wine judge both in South
Africa and abroad.
When Michael heard that I was putting together my memoirs, he sent
me some of his own. This is what he wrote.
“I had visited Benny Goldbergs with my father before I was of an
age when I was legally allowed to enter licensed premises – in other
words, in the days of the old counter service store - and knew of it as a
mecca for fine wine fanatics. Once I went to university my interest in
wine collecting grew dramatically. This was partly the result of my
having attained the age where I could simply do my own shopping,
and partly the result of my changed financial circumstances. I was the
beneficiary of a scholarship which met my university fees and books
and left me with a little surplus cash. In addition, I was giving extra
54
The next generation
lessons and supplemented my income to the extent that wine buying

did not require much serious budgeting. I shopped extensively and
profited from the ready availability of fine wines at prices which today
seem inconceivable.”
By then Benny Goldbergs had become a self-service supermarket
and I was able to track down many of the imported wines I wanted to
sample but which had not always been easy to find. Over time I came
to know the Goldbergs and it was in the end of my under-graduate
year that Sylvia Goldberg suggested that I work there for the summer
vacation. It was a great experience, and one which led to a further job
offer. If I could make myself available from time to time during the
week as an imported wine consultant, and could work on Friday
afternoons and Saturday mornings, they would pay me a fixed
amount each month – an amount which substantially exceeded the
normal weekend pay.
As a result, I put in an additional afternoon or so each week and
managed wine indents, imported wine purchases from local suppliers
and any sales queries which required a degree of expertise. In an era
in which there was very little trade know-how around European
wines, I guess I was something of a one-eyed king.
After I completed my honours degree and handed in my
dissertation, I left to join a girl friend who had secured a French
government bursary and was studying in Montpellier. I imagined I
would stay in France for a while but that I would ultimately drift to
London where I had a vague and very tentative job offer from Andre
Deutsch, the publisher, whom I knew through my mother. Before I left
Benny suggested that if, while I was in France, I could secure any
worthwhile wine agencies, he would pay me on an ad hoc basis. This
seemed a useful incentive to top up my savings and any income I
might get by doing what I really enjoyed.
Montpellier turned out to one of the most exciting wine places in
France in the mid-1970s: the University had a brilliant wine faculty
and the staff with whom I came into contact were much more
knowledgeable than my impression of Midi wine at the time had led
me to believe. In addition, the French wine trade was in the depths of
55
a depression, especially in Bordeaux, so the opportunities for me to

set up deals on behalf of what was really – at the time – the world's
largest liquor supermarket were considerable.
In the course of 1975 (I arrived in early February and left in
December) I managed several trips to the major producing areas –
including two stays in Bordeaux to take advantage of the crisis and
one to Burgundy where I was able to secure for the store the agency
for Bouchard Pere & Fils.
Thus begun a long association with one of the great landowning
negociant houses in Beaune. Over the years we became one of their
biggest premium wine clients and at one stage I was told that we
were their biggest single buyer of Le Montrachet. Through the
Bouchards I came to meet the Battault family of Cassis Boudier and
established a friendship with them which has continued to this day.
I spent the early part of 1976 working on the feasibility of a liqueur
facility in a duty free zone, returning to South Africa in May. It was
then that Benny made me the Don Corleone offer I “couldn't refuse.”
Join the business as the imports director – with responsibilities which
came to include launching local housebrands and drafting marketing
and advertising campaigns – and become 'part of the family' in one of
the country's most dynamic family run businesses.
For three years full-time (and with the Goldbergs full time really
did mean 20 hours a day) and for several years part-time (while I did
my Masters degree and then became an independent liquor trade
consultant), I worked with
the world's largest liquor
store.
I participated in the
planning and stocking of the
new shop – which opened in
April 1979 – created and
maintained the Mont d'Or
winerange and developed
Our house wine Mont d’Or, which translates to the glass department (which
Mountain of Gold, or in South Africa “Gold Berg”,
being shown by a slimmer Stanley became a significant
56
The next generation
contributor to bottom line profitability). I helped in the

implementation of what I believe was the first fully computer-
managed empties department as well as the first computerised stock
management and online cash register system in supermarket
retailing.
It is impossible to quantify the benefits I derived from the close –
and sometimes very intense – working relationship with the Goldberg
family. I was given absolute freedom to manage my own areas of
responsibility, to grow and develop new departments, to convert
ideas to reality.
The Goldbergs are uniquely trusting human beings – they gave me
the tools and the authority to grow, and they didn't interfere with the
process. In that sense they were a truly empowering force in my life.
They were also a second family - not only because life at the store
sometimes seemed to replace the home environment but because
the give and take reflected a family dynamic rather than the normal
way of corporate life.
We are still in touch with quite a few of the students we employed and
are in awe of the great success that some of these young men and women
have achieved since those days, all professional, with many degrees, some
living here, some overseas.
A friendship that developed round then was with Kevin Hedderwick of
Distillers Corp who, like the university students, claimed to have learnt a lot
from me. He said that maybe he was just lucky or maybe he was just blessed
but somehow there was an instant chemistry between him and the Goldberg
family - Stanley also worked in the business at that time.
"Of course they drove a hard bargain," Kevin wrote to us, "but here
was a family which was about fairness, honesty, respect, integrity
and loyalty. Part of my success during my career with Distillers Corp
can be attributed to what I learnt from ‘Boss Benny’ as he over time
became affectionately known to me.”
In 1976 dissatisfaction against the Nationalist Government’s
repressive apartheid policies had reached bursting point. It began as a
disturbance in Sowetan schools on 16 June over a decision to enforce
Afrikaans medium education. The police fired canisters of tear gas into the
57
crowd of school children who retaliated by throwing stones. The police

opened fire on the crowd, killing a great many. (By 24 June the official death
toll was given as 140 although it was estimated that many more had died.)
After the initial shooting, riots broke out. These were riots looking for a place
to happen and they spread like wildfire. Liquor stores were prime targets for
looters. That day Mark was positioned across the road from the store,
armed, to ensure our safety in the business. As our staff were getting very
nervous, we took the decision to close the store at 3pm to give everyone a
chance to get home safely.
One of the victims who lost his life whilst trying to bring aid to so
many in Soweto was Dr. Melville Edelstein, and on the following morning, 17
June, we received a tearful call from Mrs. Edelstein, in case we hadn’t
already heard the tragic news, requesting that we cancel the batmitzvah
order for their daughter’s party for that weekend. Here was a man who was
always willing to help the underdog. June 16 is now commemorated as
Youth Day.
When Mark matriculated in 1975, he did his compulsory national
service the following year by going into the Navy. He was sent to
Simonstown where, besides Military Training, he was introduced to the way
of life in Cape Town. This later contributed to the fact that he eventually
chose to live there.
After his military service he did several marketing and
communication courses and was then offered a job with the Premier Milling
Group, the largest national consumer goods listed company in South Africa,
merchandising retail brands in national supermarkets, thus gaining
experience to apply to Benny Goldberg's later.
In mid-1978, Mark, too, joined us in the business full-time with
interest in marketing and store design. He went to Stellenbosch to study
Viticulture and marketing and became heavily involved in advertising
playing an integral part of the business.
Now the entire family was involved in 24-hour non-stop shop talk.
Naturally we were totally engrossed in the affairs of the business and we
carried on at meal times where we left off in the store. Time at home, after a
long day, often finished with a business meeting at the dinner table, instead
of a regular family meal. This proved to be advantageous to the business but
58
The next generation
deprived us of precious quality family time, particularly for the boys who
were trying to have some normal social life before the next morning’s early
start.
Despite what Mark regarded as his limited social life, he was non the
less selected for inclusion in an
article on South Africa’s "Eligible
Bachelors" in Style magazine that
featured his photograph and a
write-up.
Mark has moved from
Johannesburg to Cape Town and got
i n vo l v e d in m a r ke t i n g and
communication businesses. He has
pursued a career in real estate and Mark at home in Cape Town
property development, as well as
spacial design.
He also does community
work and enjoys the Cape Town
environment and life style. We
always enjoy spending quality time
with him when we are in Cape Town
as well as having family Shabbats
together.
Sylvia and I were both thrilled
to be able to celebrate our 50th
wedding anniversary on 15 March
2003 at a party held in a hall in
Johannesburg. This event was truly Mark accepting a CSO community award in 2007
unique. There were 5 Goldberg

siblings, all together, in Johannesburg, with their spouses. We were the
most ‘recently’ married, as the other spouses had been married anywhere
from 56 years to over 63 years! Combined, our married years exceedd 280
years. This was the theme of the party and Stanley, in his speech, spoke
about the Big 5. Our guests were simply stunned! Sadly, the eldest and
leader of the clan, Max, passed away a year later.
59
We then returned to Muizenberg and celebrated a morning tea after

Shul withe Muizenberg Shul community and some friends.
All 5 Goldbergs with their spouses, as well as Sylvia’s siblings, were all present at our Golden
Wedding Anniversary on 15 March 2003
Golden Wedding Anniversary: 15 March 2003
60
The next generation
The 5 Goldbergs from left: Cissie, Sylvia, Benny, Hilly,

Hilly’s Sylvia, Bunty, Solly Meltzer. In front, Max and Joan
The Big 5 Goldbergs
Benny having a Le Chaim with Mark at our 50th

anniversary party
61
Golden Wedding Anniversary: 15 March 2003
62
Chapter 7
Our staff
We were blessed to have so many good members of staff over a 30-

year period. My sister, Bunty, was the first lady to work with me in the
Highlands North Bottle Store in 1952. Bunty is often referred to as “Benny in
a skirt”. She was most efficient and friendly. As this period was only 8 years
after World War 2, quite a lot of “unknown” spirits and liqueurs started
coming into South Africa, one of these is a well-known Dutch liquor
company called Wynand Fokken.
One day Bunty was standing behind the counter when a customer
walked in. She greeted her and the customer, in a Dutch accent, courteously
requested: “Can I please have a bottle of Fokken gin?"
Equally courteously Bunty replied, "Certainly. Would you like fokken
Gordon’s Gin or fokken Gilbey’s Gin?"
I overheard the conversation and immediately took Bunty to a spirit
section on the shelf and showed her where we kept the Fokken Gin.
Needless to say, the customer was thrilled to be able to take home a little
taste of home.
Even though it was a family business, we employed a small
compliment of staff and besides my sister and my wife – and, much later, my
children - I also employed my brother-in-law, Morry Sacher, who assisted in
various capacities in the running of the business. It was here that he learnt
about discounting, mass-merchandising, negotiating with the suppliers
and, most importantly, that the customer always came first.
“Part of my success and my initial motivation and feel for retailing”,
Morry maintains, “began when I joined Benny and my sister, Sylvia, in their
counter store in Louis Botha Avenue. I saw the meaningful relationship the
Goldbergs had, not only with suppliers, but also with their customers and
this left an indelible impression in my mind.
“In 1972, we moved to Durban, and I started a new baby-store in
Smith Street called Little People using the principles that I had learnt from
the liquor industry.”
63
Today Morry is the group CEO of Redgewoods Pty (Ltd) which

controls 60 stores through Toy-R-Us, Reggies, Baby & Co. and Little People.
"A lot has happened in my personal and business life, from 1972 to
2007”, Morry says, “ I often recall the basics that I was privileged to learn
from these two wonderful people.”
Sylvia’s younger sister, Hazel Rubin, also spent time with us in the
store, when her four children were a bit older. She assisted in the admin
section on a half day basis and also had a great relationship with staff
members and was wonderful with customers. It was good to have yet
another family member in our team.
Most of the staff from Highlands North accompanied us to Lyndhurst,
including our beloved Lily Oshry, who we were blessed to have for 25 years.
Not only was she a loyal and trusted employee of the store but she became a
dearly loved part of the family. She was excellent at her job, and in addition
she absolutely mothered Sylvia and our sons, right down to checking
whether Sylvia had in fact had breakfast before leaving home. Lily was loved
by all the staff and customers and she definitely played an important part in
the expansion of our business.
Even in that era, we were always striving for better service and came
up with the idea that it would be great if the man of the house could
telephone the store at his leisure in the evening to place an order for delivery
the next day. We purchased a “Colindictor” and as soon as Lily arrived at the
store in the mornings, she would play back this “answering machine” and
write down the recorded orders.
One of the ladies under Lily Oshry’s wing was Joan Penny who
attended to the book keeping. Her husband was a bank manager and she
was only with us for a couple of years as she needed to take care of her own
children.
On the 15th of March 1970-odd, I arrived early in the morning and told
the ladies in the general office that I was in the dog box as I had forgotten
our wedding anniversary. Sylvia had tearfully handed me her anniversary
gift for me and I had nothing to give her in return. The following year, on the
14th of March, Mr Penny called me to remind me not to forget the anniversary
again. He continued these calls for quite a few years, for which I was most
grateful.
64
Our staff
A young woman, who lived in Kew, joined us at Lyndhurst Bottle

Store. She had 6 children, was extremely energetic and was also with us for
over 25 years. This was dear Mrs Croukamp, a staunch, energetic lady, who
was eventually fondly referred to as Crowie by all of us as well as customers.
She learned a lot from Mrs Oshry and from Sylvia and from the mid-70’s her
job was exclusively dealing with telephone orders.
I had started a party service and we had printed a list of most of the
items required for any function, from spirits to sherries to beer to wines to
mixers. The list included the party service items that we would lend to the
customers such as different kinds of glasses like wine or beer glasses. There
was plenty of room left to add on any additional special items they required.
This party list was copied into an invoice book where the unit price and brand
names were added.
Mrs Croukamp became a specialist in party orders, helping Sylvia in
this department for weddings, barmitzvahs, business functions, banquets,
etc. We were confident that she could handle a party order to the
satisfaction of any customer. This was proven over and over again by
customers coming to the store on a Monday morning to thank her personally
for a job well done, sometimes bringing her a slice of wedding cake or
flowers from the party.
After Mrs Oshry retired Mrs Croukamp took over her position and she
oversaw the other ladies who were taking orders, as we had 10 incoming
telephone lines and a full-time switchboard operator who would delegate
orders to the order clerks as well as paging on the public address system for
any of us she could not locate on the phone. We all worked under pressure,
particularly over the festive seasons but at all times Crowie could be relied
on to watch over everything with a hawk’s eye. What a welcome early
customers got when they heard her chirpy voice saying, “Benny Goldberg’s
and a veeeery good morning to you!”
One of the other order ladies was an elderly lady who sometimes
could not catch up with writing invoices as well as taking telephone calls, so
she would very surreptitiously place her telephone instrument, with the
receiver off, in her desk drawer and carry on writing her orders undisturbed.
We were all aware of this and amusedly turned a blind eye.
65
Another person who was with us for 25 years was Mr Marnie Adams.
He started at Lyndhurst Bottle Store as a co-pilot on the delivery trucks,
then became a driver and eventually became the Despatch Manager. This
position entailed loading orders into many delivery vans, as well as making
up ‘calling orders’ and ensuring that
the customers always received their
exact orders. Marnie, with his team
of workers, managed the Despatch
and Calling Orders Department
amazingly well. It has been good to
reminisce with him over the years
and both Sylvia and I are still
amazed at his great recollection of
those times.
A middle aged man named
Parking always given priority attention by Benny
Solly Gosher joined us in the late
70’s and he took care of the cigars,
cigarettes, chocolates and bar accessories as well as being a fine assistant in
the store. One day Sylvia was standing right next to him having a
discussion, when a customer came up to him and said, “Hello Mr Goldberg.
What whisky do you suggest I buy for a gift?” And off Solly went with the
customer to the whisky section, happy to be called Mr Goldberg with the
customer happy to have been served by Mr Goldberg.
From the early 1970's, despite apartheid restrictions, not all the
senior positions in my business were held by whites. These appointments
were made on merit, not colour.
One was Moses Maduba who started
with us years before as a delivery
driver and was promoted to become
manager of the counter liquor
store, a position he held for very
many years. Another was Marnie
Adams who became an integral part
of the business, as Dispatch
Moses Maduba, manager of the Counter Store,
proudly showing Benny how efficiently his store Manager. The receiving goods
was running
66
Our staff
manager was Michael Kenny who did a sterling job as did his wife Raylene
Kenny, who was in charge of compiling debtors accounts on the early
computers of the 1970’s, and other admin work.
In the 70’s we had parking
for about 80 cars and as there was
constant traffic coming and going
and cars being loaded, one of our
employees, Victor Tshabalala, who
was a packer at the checkout
points, was given this promotion to
be responsible for the loud-hailer
and began to direct the traffic,
managing the job as well as any Original supermarket in the 70’s
fully trained traffic officer. After

1979, with the addition of the big new site, he was managing (with
assistance) close to 300 cars.
On Friday afternoons, Saturday mornings and over busy periods we
employed Robbie Hotz. Robbie has the most amazing and eloquent
speaking voice and he worked part-time for as an announcer on the public
address system. He was the stadium announcer at Balfour Park, one of the
top clubs in the national football league, where he was responsible for
welcoming supporters, announcing the teams and half time scores of the
other fixtures of the day or night. After each match people used to make
their way to the clubhouse either to celebrate the team’s winning
performance or to analyse why their side drew or lost.
One of our employees was Cyril Weinberg who played hockey for the
Balfour Park team. Sometimes he would help out in the club bar. One day
Cyril saw Robbie in our shop and told him that I was looking for an
announcer to work in the store on Saturday mornings. Robbie recalls his
first day with us on 30 September 1972 and for the following 28 years he
was to be a regular weekend announcer. He would stand on the balcony
overlooking the store and would be handed a list of the special items, the
new and recommended items that we wanted him to mention and any other
promotions we had running. In-between doing this, he would greet
customers by name and always made everyone feel most welcome.
67
Robbie’s “mike” skills were also put to use to control traffic in the aisles. He
would invite customers to ask for assistance if it was needed and did a great
job. Robbie recalled those Saturday mornings behind the public address
system.
“Benny Goldberg’s was the place to be. Customers came in droves,
thronging the four-aisle store to begin buying their favourite wines,
beer, whisky and other requirements. More often than not, a lot of the
clients came in because they had heard about fancy liquor or whisky
that could not be found anywhere else. I for one, could not believe the
activity that took place - you see it was the beginning of a new era in
South Africa, the self-service era as we know it today. At Benny’s it
was self-service with a difference - there were floor staff to guide you
and advise you with your purchasing requirements, while making
their rounds. With the added addition of a regular store announcer,
Benny, an outstanding innovator and marketing man, came up with
incredible ideas to give customers all sorts of reasons to buy this
product or that product. Benny innovated the Case Lot concept, “Buy
the case and save even more”, hence the case lot collection centre in
front of the store became very necessary.
Included in the list of all sorts of promotions, specials and random
give-aways, was the birthday or anniversary give-away. Recipients
received a bottle of Cinzano Spumante or Fifth Avenue Cold Duck if it
was their own celebration day.
“Who’s wearing red socks?” said the announcer.
“Me!” Replied an elderly gentleman, and after displaying his red socks
he would receive an oversized ashtray or a set of glasses. Just
another exciting idea from Benny himself.”
Michael Fridjhon, besides being a gifted, wine connoisseur, was also
imaginative when it came to advertising and promoting our special offers
and he would write excellent copy for Robbie to read over the store’s
airwaves. When Lanson French Champagne was to be promoted, he came
up with the pay off line “Served for centuries by those who know, to those
who count – Lanson French Champagne". Or, "MADE with the RECIPE of the
AZTEC Gods of old – Kahlua Coffee Liqueur".
68
Our staff
Robbie was not the only one to use the public address system. I would
take it to make announcements and to ensure that the staff were always
attentive to customers. Perhaps not so eloquent or polite as Robbie.
Anand Reddy worked closely with Sylvia. He handled the
administrative bookkeeping and was an important member of the team,
well liked by all the staff. We are still in contact with him.
The four-aisle store was definitely a must visit and a must see on
liquor buyers' lists. The four-aisle store soon became a six-aisle store, and
with another two aisles came more staff. The added space carried an
outstanding range of mainly French and other imported wines as well as
South African wines.
While sitting in my office one day there was a knock on my door and
when I looked up I saw a young lady dressed in blue jeans and a T-shirt. She
had come to ask for a job. I was immediately impressed by her French
accent.
"Do you know anything about wines?", I asked.
"Non. I am from Mauritius, not France. I know nothing about French
wines." Then she added, "But I am willing to learn.”
That reply, together with her enthusiasm and her accent was the
clincher and I employed Jocelyn Robert immediately. For the next month all
she had to do was to read the various wine books, which I handed to her.
After a month she duly returned with some knowledge and I passed her over
to Michael Fridjhon for further training. Naturally, with such a knowledgeable
teacher, she was soon able to go onto the floor to assist customers with their
needs and purchases. She did so confidently, knowing that Michael was close
by in case of need. Our customers were fascinated by her strong French
accent and enthusiasm and Jocelyn wanted to learn more and more. She
eventually became well known in wine circles throughout South Africa after
starting with no knowledge whatsoever. After very many years, she has
recently contacted us and expressed her gratitude for ALL the help she
received from the whole Benny Goldberg crew.
Michael Fridjhon correctly said that I would never have described
myself as a political liberal, but I have a deep sense of what was just and fair,
and I applied these principles independently of the colour of those with whom
I dealt. My father’s principles had made an indelible impression on me.
69
According to Michael, I had black senior management running

divisions of the business long before it was fashionable to do so, and my
logic was indisputable.
“His appointees – Benny said – were the best people for the job and
they were entitled to management seniority irrespective of the colour
of their skins. This attitude provoked a degree of resentment from
white staff who found that the
position they assumed were
reserved for whites were not
automatically theirs for the
taking. Sometimes the white
middle management
complained – more often
than not they remained
silently resentful. However I
Different angle, showing the 16 checkout points do remember one white
at the exit cashier expressing outrage to
Benny one morning when she
discovered that her Indian colleague was banking exactly the same
rate for the job that she was earning. Benny was unmoved, but
irritated and disinclined to engage with her at length.
“‘Listen,’ he said, “is she doing the same job?’
When the cashier replied in the affirmative he simply said,
“Then she’s entitled to the same pay.”
From 1979, our total staff compliment was 165 people and managing
this amount of people was challenging, not only from an administrative
point of view, but also in terms of social interaction between the staff which
sometimes required arbitration. Sylvia often felt that she would have been
better equipped if she had had a nursery school diploma to appease any
differences amongst staff!
70
Chapter 8
Our customers
Customers enjoyed the experience of going through the aisles,

discovering such a large variety of liquor never before seen in South Africa.
They never ceased to be fascinated by the selection available. This
encouraged me to procure an even more unusual range of cosmopolitan
spirits, wines, liqueurs, etc. South African estate wines were given great
exposure and with the additional discount on all unbroken case lots, sales
were increasing.
Numerous customers came to express their shock at finding on our
shelves wines that they had specially brought back from the various wine
estates whilst on holiday in the Cape and they told me what a hassle it had
been for them to arrange for its delivery to Johannesburg when all the time
these same wines were available in our store and, in practically all
instances, at even cheaper prices. What a lesson they learnt. It was
definitely not practical for them to try to transport wine up to Johannesburg
in those days, as it was all available locally at Benny Goldberg’s and in a
greater variety than they thought existed.
Our customers not only enjoyed their shopping with us, they also
found it to be a fun experience, and I always ensured that there was staff
available to assist them, notwithstanding that it was a self-service store. I
enforced a strict rule that the staff was never to point out an aisle number
but were always to take the customer directly to the product needed. Of the
16 tills in the new store from 1979, till number one handled the large orders
and when the store was very busy, we would steer those customers to till
number one where Sylvia would sit and would attend to their checkout, their
paying and exit in a most efficient and friendly manner.
Robbie Hotz described her “not only manning Checkout Point Number
One every weekend, which was situated near the entrance, but also
greeting the customers as they came in – part of Benny Goldberg Liquor
Supermarket personality-image way.”
Although at this stage I was long passed an era of hard selling, every
now and again the bug would bite. One Saturday morning – perhaps 30
71
minutes before closing time – I was leading a customer around the store and
helping him to fill his trolley when I saw that Michael Fridjhon was doing
much the same thing himself.
”My guy will buy more than yours,” I whispered to him as we passed in
one of the aisles.
When closing time arrived, his customer and mine were both
standing at the check outs with several trolleys and flat beds groaning under
the weight of their purchases. It was not a bet I cared about winning – and,
as Michael was quick to point out, as the owner of the business, I won
whoever sold the most liquor – but I enjoyed the challenge and I was keen to
prove that I had not forgotten how to close a sale.
As previously mentioned, in 1965 I had already started to display the
bottles in large, eye-level, three-tier vegetable baskets, rather than
standing upright on shelves in the traditional fashion so that it would be
easier for the customers to browse. Every few days a well-spoken
gentleman, who was obviously highly educated, used to spend quite some
time going through the contents of the baskets. He was certainly not a big
spender, but really seemed to enjoy the new shopping experience. Sylvia
often came forward from behind the counter to speak to the gentleman and
she was fascinated with his wealth of knowledge and gathered quite a lot of
information from him about the products displayed. At this stage, having to
multi-task and have a handle on all areas of the business, she had not yet
started to discover the joys of wine drinking. These visits continued for
many weeks.
We later read in the newspaper that Mr Braam Fischer, the leader of
the underground Communist Party, had been discovered hiding in our area
and had used various forms of disguises. A leading defence counsel, the
grandson of a Boer Prime Minister of the Orange River Colony and the son of
the Judge-President of the Orange Free State Supreme Court, Abram
Fischer had headed the defence team in the Rivonia trial defending leaders
of the African National Congress including the world-renowned hero Nelson
Mandela, the Indian National Congress and several Jews. When his secret
identity was discovered in 1964, he was arrested only to jump bail in
January 1965 and go into hiding. With his patrician background, the
Afrikaner establishment regarded him as a traitor to the volk. To us, he
72
Our customers
represented a defender of the underdog.

It took nearly a year before the police caught him in November 1965.
We only then realised that this was the same courteous bearded gentleman
with whom Sylvia had spent so much time conversing. He must have
enjoyed his forays in disguise to the haven that our liquor store must have
represented, where he could participate in an informed discussion about a
subject he loved – wine. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and died of
cancer ten years later still under the sentence.
It was at around this time that we introduced the colindictor. This
service also provided an opportunity for our customers to “play the fool”. We
received many funny messages, and some actual orders too. One customer
was learning to play the mouth organ. He took advantage of what he
considered a “willing” ear and would phone on a regular basis and play a
tune to the colindictor. We soon began to recognise when he was learning to
play a new tune. After some time, he left a final message thanking us for
listening and asking whether we could notice the improvement.
The Gallon jars, which were the equivalent of 4.5 litres or six bottles
of dry wine, were very popular amongst customers originating from Italy,
Portugal and other European countries. Sometimes customers came in with
a half-empty bottle or even a ¾ empty gallon jar of wine, with a complaint.
Their complaint? The wine that they had previously purchased - now less
than half full - was "off". There would be very little left inside the bottle
because they had obviously consumed the rest. These complaints were the
bane of the staff's lives and they would unwillingly bring them to either
Stanley or Mark, and to appease the customer, a brand new Gallon jar or
bottle was handed to them free of charge. This was done because this was
the policy that Mr G insisted on.
My staff quite rightly never approved of my reaction but I
remembered my father's “sardine story”, and instructed them to replace the
wine without question, and would send away another satisfied - if deceitful -
customer.
I have already mentioned the party service that I had initiated, as a
result of which we became intimately involved in our customers' rites-of-
passage celebrations, from births to wakes, from marriages to divorces and
remarriages, from births to graduations and significant birthdays. All these
73
celebrations formed an important part of our work.

This party service developed into an association between the
customer and ourselves and by sharing in the planning of their celebration a
sense of loyalty and close relationship would develop between the customer
and us. One Monday morning, a customer I did not recognise, walked up the
stairs to my office and asked if he could speak to me.
"You know, I am very happy with the service I got from you folks, but
you know it rained damn hard yesterday. This really put a damper on my
daughter's engagement party because many of the people we invited did
not pitch so we did not use all the cubed ice. I ordered three containers but I
only used one container of ice. Can I have a credit for the other two?"
This left over “ice” was now just water that would immediately be
thrown out when the container was cleaned. Remembering the sardines,
and amused by his chutzpah, I agreed to deduct one Rand from his account,
being the credit for two buckets of ice at 50c a bucket. Here again, another
happy customer left, and naturally we later did the order for the wedding
reception plus ice.
Apart from these social functions, we catered for large corporate
affairs as well as for many Johannesburg mayoral functions.
A week before Sun City opened early in December 1980, we received
a call from Mr Chris Trimble, the food and beverage manager, asking us to
supply them with an opening order. We asked him to telex the order through
(there were no fax machines or e-mail facilities in those days) because we
were rushed off our feet with our December busy season. Sylvia and I
looked at the order that night and after numerous discussions with Mr
Trimble, we were in a position to have his order ready in time to be collected
by his own transport. This exercise proved to be an advantage for Sun City
because it was a “one-stop shop” for them saving them having to deal with
many different suppliers to consolidate and fulfil their requirements. For the
first six months of their existence we were the sole liquor supplier.
Often on a Saturday morning Sun City would rush a truck through to
collect a large order of beer as there was nowhere else they could obtain
large quantities of stock over a weekend.
Because we had the facility of the Bonded Warehouse, we were able
to supply the diplomatic corps as well as to export products. Among these
74
Our customers
customers were embassies in Johannesburg and Pretoria as well as the

government-owned diplomatic guesthouse.
In 1979, an American diplomat from Lusaka, Zambia, visited Pretoria
and whilst there he heard about our liquor store and decided to pay us a
visit. He walked into the store and introduced himself to us. We took an
immediate liking to one another. He explained to us the difficulties in
obtaining various essential household commodities and asked if we could
assist them by procuring goods to be included in the delivery of their initial
liquor order. Arrangements were made for an order to be sent by road
transport to Lusaka. This required a lot of paperwork for the Customs
Department. He also told the other consuls in Lusaka, Zambia, about the
service we offered. Arising out of the recommendation, orders started to
arrive and from then onwards our customer base increased, not only with
the consulates but to other African states supplying hotels and restaurants.
As he was staying in Pretoria and obviously, apart from the Embassy,
knew very few people in South Africa and as we had family there, not only
did we invite him to our home in Johannesburg, but he spent time with the
family in Pretoria too. His name was Roy Hermansman and his charming
wife, Margaret, was an older version of Grace Kelly.
After the Hermansman couple returned to Lusaka, our main means of
communication was via telex and Roy told quite a few other people in the
diplomatic corps of his great “find” in Johannesburg. Because of the
shortages of food and many other items in Lusaka at the time, we gladly
offered to purchase outside items and pack these with their order to go in
the same road transportation. Requests often came through. One April we
were asked to send sweets or chocolates which their children had not seen
since December the previous year. Soap was required, and most urgently,
toilet paper. We found it fascinating that here we were sending rolls and rolls
of toilet paper to the diplomatic corps… heaven alone knows how the
ordinary people managed to get their supplies.
A telex arrived one day in 1980 informing us that Roy would not be
coming to South Africa, but one of his senior assistants would be arriving in
his place, and would we be good enough to fetch Tiebor and Jane Nagy from
the Johannesburg airport. We went off to fetch them with no idea what they
would look like, and found this young American couple, both blond with Jane
75
a typical Alice-in-Wonderland look alike. They were staying at the embassy

in Pretoria and Jane was going to see a gynaecologist whom she called, in
her American accent, Dr. Johan van der What. There were 2 doctors van der
Wat, practising at the Parklane clinic, father and son, both specialising in
infertility.
We assisted Tiebor and Jane with information about the best places to
shop. They explained to us that they, like most diplomats, spent three years
in a country before being moved on, and in the nine years that they had
been married, had lived in three countries and had consulted gynaecologists
in all those countries.
After the consultation Tiebor mentioned that Dr. “van der What”
wanted to see Jane in 2 months time and asked if it would be possible for her
to stay in Johannesburg as she would be on her own. During this visit the
Nagy’s met some of our friends and members of our family and they
endeared themselves to all. One of our friends who was considerably
younger than we were, offered to put Jane up in her home. Our friend also
spent some time during the day at home and could give her visitor more
attention.
What excitement there was on Jane’s return visit to Dr van der Wat,
when she was told that she was pregnant with twins. The embassy in Lusaka
started telexing us with many additional requests. It was no longer just soap
and toilet paper that was needed. For two additions to the Nagy family they
would be requiring cots, prams, nappies and all the other paraphernalia that
come with babies. This was mainly purchased by the US Embassy in South
Africa and we helped with the transportation. Tiebor and Jane then decided
it would be easier for Jane to have the actual birth in Harare, Zimbabwe, as
this would be nearer for Tiebor to travel.
One morning we arrived at work and there was a telex waiting for us.
Jane had given birth to triplets! PLEASE could we arrange for another set of
EVERYTHING with the assistance of the local embassy. There was no rush as
the two boys were of a reasonable birth weight but the little girl was tiny and
would definitely not require any of these necessities at present. The
diplomats’ wives, who mostly had grown up children, made themselves
available to assist Jane with her three bundles of joy.
76
Our customers
For many years after that, we received an annual Christmas card

from the Nagy family, the first one showing Jane and Tiebor holding these
three tiny human bundles. Two years later when they had been transferred
to the Seychelles, we were able to see how truly delightful these three
children were and the card also included an invitation to visit with their
family in the Seychelles. Because of the pressure of work, this never
happened.
After 27 years of moving to a new home in a new country every three
years, and after having lived in nine different countries, Roy and Margaret
Hermansman, became adamant that they wanted to own their very own
permanent home, and they built a lovely home in Maryland, in Washington.
When we travelled to the United States in 1981, the Hermansmans insisted
that we had to be guests in their home in which they were now settled and
extremely happy.
We visited after a business trip to the United Kingdom and travelled
from London to Washington in three hours on a Concorde flight, which we
found most exciting. Because of the time zones of the UK and USA, we arrive
in Washington three hours earlier than our departure time from London! We
could really see that the earth was round. We received such a warm
reception from the Hermansmans and were proudly shown to the guest
suite with its own bathroom. Roy quickly opened the bathroom cupboards
where there must have been at least 18 rolls of toilet paper. They were
determined never, ever, to run out of so essential an item in their lives.
Approximately once a month we received an export order to Zambia
to a hotel and liquor store named Capiri Mposhi and we always received
prompt payment. The store had an agent in Johannesburg who sourced
other items for them as well as placing a duty-free liquor order with us. After
all the documentation was ready, their agent sent their own transportation
truck and the procedure was that all documentation had to be stamped at
the border proving that it had left South Africa and was then stamped again
on arrival in Zambia to prove that it had got there. This documentation was
always brought back to us and we then handed it back to Customs to
complete the whole process.
Early in January of 1981, while we were having a well-deserved rest
staying with Sylvia’s cousins in Muizenberg, we received a call from our
77
store telling us that a Customs official had come in to notify us that much of
this liquor had in fact never left South Africa and the Customs stamps were
fraudulent. Cases of liquor with our markings had been discovered on sale at
one particular bottle store only a few kilometres away from us. I am not
quite sure if other stores were also involved. The Customs Department
wanted a cheque for duty of R74 000 immediately as we were the exporters.
What a shock! This was an ENORMOUS sum of money, which was almost
enough to purchase a small house at that time.
Arrangements had to be made to enable us to pay this enormous
amount. Naturally we immediately contacted the agent who said that he
would make sure that the entire amount would be repaid but that it would
have to be over a long period of time. While we had to pay the R74 000, the
liquor store that had been buying our “duty-free” liquor at a reduced price
was not affected one bit (some people have all the luck!). After dozens and
dozens of calls, Sylvia managed to get this money paid back to us in dribs
and drabs over a 3 year period.
I think that this was one of the first times that Customs and Excise
“discovered” what loopholes there were with goods crossing the border.
From then on, for the entire country, whenever any goods were exported,
full duty had to be paid. Only once the genuine authenticated documents
were handed back to Customs could we get a refund of the duty and were
able to pass it on to our exporters or back to ourselves.
78
Chapter 9
Our Suppliers
When we started in 1953, our little shop on the corner of Louis Botha
Avenue did not warrant us getting any special attention from the suppliers,
but as we grew and as they realised I always lived up to my obligations and
responsibilities, they began to show some interest.
Suppliers came to realise that both Sylvia and I were people of our
word and because of our increased buying power and Sylvia’s astute
mathematical brain, whereby she would negotiate a better rebate, we
developed an amicable relationship to our mutual benefit. Suppliers knew
that we were not greedy and that they would be given great exposure while
our low profit mark up would eventuate in large volume of sales.
We had a very strict rule in the organisation which applied to the
Goldberg family as well: nobody went out with suppliers to be wined and
dined for lunch or any other time. Of course, we did not expect anyone (staff
or reps) to have any alcohol during working hours.
Robbie Hotz remembers the time that the Viceroy Brandy rep, Gus
van Rooyen, walked into Sylvia’s office carrying a glass of brandy, and was
told curtly,
“Gus, do not come into my office with that glass otherwise I will take
your product off the shelf!”
On one occasion, the South African representative of Martini
Vermouths, told us that his principals would like to take us to lunch, to which
I replied that they were welcome to come to the store and we were happy to
have them sit with us in our small dining area. Two Italian gentlemen duly
arrived, laden with Italian delicacies that they had purchased and were soon
very busy arranging everything on the table so that we could spend some
time with them even though we always had a telephone near us if we were
needed.
The very first person who really showed faith and interest in us was
Fred Voget, the credit and sales manager of a firm called Castle Wine and
Brandy who, in December 1958 gave us credit to the value of £20 000.00 to
79
allow us to get back onto our feet. An arrangement was reached whereby we
could pay this off over quite a lengthy period whilst keeping our current
account up to date. Sylvia and I will never forget the exceptional kindness
and trust shown because, after all, he was answerable to his company and
we remained very loyal to Castle Wine and Brandy in appreciation from then
on.
Fred became a good friend and we would exchange stories about our
children, schooling, sports, etc, and had the pleasure of meeting his children
and his charming wife, Mavis. They have subsequently both passed on, but
our link in the chain to the Voget family has not been broken as we are now
patients of Dr Stephen Voget, a leading dermatologist in Cape Town and
during consultations we still have a trip down memory lane. He is most
certainly a chip off the old block.
During 1974 we were approached by Alan Bell, MD of Gilbeys with a
tempting offer to buy 49% of our business, as we would retain 51%, we
would have free reign without any form of interference. There was also a
“PUT” clause that we could buy back the balance of our business at any time.
This partnership was very pleasant and of mutual benefit to both of us.
The giants in the liquor trade were SA Breweries and we were in
contact with a variety of people through them over the many years including
Eddie Barlow, Piet Greyling, Colin Hall, Gavin Scott and Roy Coverly. What a
thrill it was for us to receive a “telegram” from SAB’s chief, Peter Savory,
congratulating us on being the first to achieve the sale of one million litres in
a December month. We were fondly known as Number 1 for many years. A
million litres of all brands of SAB products consisting mainly of cans,
dumpies and of course, quart bottles filled many a “blue bird” - a big SAB
truck.
Some of our sales representatives included well-known cricketer
Eddie Barlow and rugby player Piet Greyling. During Piet’s stay at SAB, we
would see every Monday morning when he arrived, that he sported another
injury from the weekend. A cut eyebrow was a regular occurrence and when
Sylvia saw him, she would remark that now that he was married with
children, it was time for him to leave the sport. His reply was that he got the
same strong advice on the weekends from his wife, Judith, and on a Monday
from his customer, Sylvia, and enough was enough. We have been in contact
80
Our Suppliers
with Piet and are delighted that he has continued to grow from strength to
strength.
The SA Breweries credit controller was an elderly Scotsman and
Sylvia and he were in close contact to make sure that the payments were
made in time. On a few occasions, to pull his leg, Sylvia called him
pretending to be phoning from overseas long distance call,
“Can you hear me? This is Sylvia Goldberg. Benny and I are out of the
country and there will be no cheque for you this month.”
When Sylvia heard his distress, she would tell him not to panic, she
was just joking and naturally, he could relax, as his payment would be on
time.
Roy Coverley recalled Sylvia’s comments when he was the SAB
representative and would come for the cheque for that month’s purchases -
one can imagine the cheque size – ours was the world’s biggest bottle store!
“As regular as clockwork, Mrs G would say to me, “Roy, I hope you are
not going back to the office today, and you will only give Mr Seath (the credit
manager) the cheque sometime tomorrow. REPEAT NOT TODAY”
From 1969 the person who was responsible for the Beer Division of SA
Breweries was Colin Hall and we soon developed a close relationship with
him. When the store became much larger, on a day to day basis, we were
looked after by Gavin Scott and Roy Coverley who did their utmost to keep
us happy. On any trips that involved air travel, Gavin and Roy always made a
point of taking us to the airport. Those were the days where you could hand
in your luggage and then sit down and have a quiet drink.
When Roy was promoted to Key Acts Representative in the 1980s
after ten years on the East Rand, he said to Ed Reeler the Marketing Manager
of SAB,
“Thanks for the promotion, but I don’t think that I can handle the
Benny Goldberg account.”
Roy Coverley came in forewarned that Sylvia with her sharp
mathematical brain was a force to be reckoned with. He was also told that
neither Sylvia nor I approved of sales reps who drank beer or spirits during
the day.
81
Gavin Scott, who had held the position before Roy, warned him one
Thursday that on the following Monday he would be introduced to Benny,
Sylvia, Stanley, and the floor managers. Roy was told that in order to meet
us he had to be properly attired.
1. Have haircut
2. Wear white shirt
3. Pin–striped suit
4. Tie not too loud
5. And do not visit Sylvia if he had had a drink.
Roy remembered that Monday vividly. “ Monday arrived, my blood
pressure going up and up, sweaty hands, waiting for the call to please come
up to Sylvia’s office – 32 steps to her office, and panic all the way. What a
relief when Sylvia said to Benny that I had passed the test.”
We only recently discovered that our staff used to terrify Roy for fun,
telling him that he was in for a real torrid session. They would get him into
such a state that he would take a Valium before coming up the formidable
stairs leading up to the executive offices.
“At times, Mrs G and myself had to discuss confidentials, this was
always a pressure meeting for me as she would try and squeeze me
for a better percentage than I could offer, and I appreciated the
challenge as she was trying to sell more beer for their vast liquor store
and I would be selling more beer for my company. At one of these
pressure meetings, I was extremely fortunate that Benny sat in.
After about one hour in the ‘pressure cooker’, Benny intervened and
said to me:
“’Roy, what Mrs Goldberg is saying is that we appreciated the packet
of sweets you gave us, but can you sometimes add a few chocolates
on top of the sweets?’
“It was always Benny’s vision to have the biggest bottle store in the
world, which Benny achieved with honours and I have had the
privilege to have been the SAB rep throughout this transition period.
After a few years of calling on this outstanding outlet, I had reason to
see Mrs G late one afternoon. On her table was a bottle of a new
liqueur to be launched by Distillers and left by the representative for
82
Our Suppliers
Mr and Mrs Goldberg to sample. Mrs Goldberg asked me to get two

liqueur glasses so as to join her in sampling this new product.
Although it was just a small sip, it was certainly an honour for me
which I will never forget. My association with the Goldberg family was
not just business, but on a social front as well.
“Another great occasion for me was, being short of two trucks of beer
with three days left in a volume target incentive competition which
carried a prize of a trip to Mauritius for me and my wife. My only
chance was to talk to Mr and Mrs Goldberg. They gave me that vital
order with a lot of pleasure and wanted absolutely nothing in return. I
shall never forget.
“’This, Roy’, they said, ‘Is for you and your wife’”.
It was not only Roy who was afraid of us. One of our suppliers, Kevin
Hedderwick, who became one of our caring friends, said that when he
arrived on the Reef in 1980 as a young sales manager for what in those days
was called Distillers Corporation, just the sheer mention of the name Benny
Goldberg, used to instil " fear " in the hearts of many of the liquor salesmen.
When he heard that I had decided to record my memoirs Kevin wrote
to me about his own recollection of meeting me, and said:
“It was with great trepidation that I set off soon after taking up this
post to meet with the legendary Benny Goldberg, a man who had
completely revolutionised the retail liquor industry in South Africa
and who attracted attention from across the globe. I soon realised
that my information had been wrong about Benny Goldberg. He was
an absolute 'pussycat' - but it was one Sylvia Goldberg who could
strike fear into the heart of the most hardened salesman."
In 1988, when we had been out of the industry for nearly six years,
we were invited to a special lunch given for us at Isando by our SA Brewery
friends including Gavin, Roy, Peter Savory and those secretaries from
dispatch and other departments with whom we had been in close contact.
They really made us feel so special. Not everyone was a fair weather friend.
They presented us with a clock, flowers for Sylvia and they later sent us a
photograph of the whole group at this memorable lunch.
SAB had a department called Special Events, which supplied chairs,
tables and barrels of beer for large fLtes, sporting events and outdoor
83
functions. Once a year, we prevailed on them to lend us trestle tables and 3

dozen chairs when we celebrated our Jewish New Year dinner at home.
When we thanked them for the service, it became known that the chairs had
been personally monogrammed for us as SAB stood for Sylvia And Benny.
Stellenbosch Farmers Winery brought into South Africa an aperitif
called Campari. I took a liking to this product realising how versatile it was
as it had a lower alcohol content and was great mixed with soda, orange
juice, tonic water or dry lemon. We printed a cocktail recipe book and
Campari, Martini, and various liqueurs were well featured in both simple and
exotic cocktails.
Through our various promotions the sales of Campari began to climb
steadily and we helped to introduce this “pleasant” lower alcohol content,
lunch time drink to many of our customers. Over the years, some of the
principals of Campari had been out to South Africa and had come in to see
the store. We were treated royally by them when we went on a visit to Italy
as part of the Wine and Spirit Guild of America tour.
The House of Seagram was renowned as one of the most prestigious,
international liquor producers. Their brands included Chivas Regal 12 year
old as well as 21 year old Royal Salute - each bottle was packed in a velvet
draw string bag - as well as 100 Pipers and Loch an Ora. Sabra Liqueur
which was made in Israel. Even though it was marketed internationally by
Seagram, any profit from Sabra went back to Israel. The respect
internationally for this company and it’s founder, Edgar Bronfman, was so
immense that when Mr Bronfman passed away in Montreal, the city of
Montreal closed, out of respect, while his funeral was taking place.
We were Seagram’s largest individual customers in South Africa.
There were no other stores who could take a container consisting of 1100
cases of Chivas Regal. The South African representative was Derek Stretton
who was always most attentive and assisted us in marketing the Seagram
products. We had the pleasure of being entertained in New York in their
Park Avenue building (I believe they owned the entire skyscraper).
84
Our Suppliers
When our new store was opened in 1979, they gave us a special
plaque, mounted in Perspex, that stated “Presented to Benny and Sylvia
Goldberg, on the opening of the store 27 April 1979, whose dedication and
integrity made possible the opening of this, the world’s largest liquor
supermarket."
85
Portrait of Benny which greeted visitors entering the new store, above a
plaque commemorating the opening of the store on 27 April 1979 by
Minister of Finance, Senator Owen Horwood
86
Chapter 10
Fighting a price war
In 1976 I was visited by two members of the then Witwatersrand

Bottle Store Keepers’ Association, viz. Mr Natie Mathieson and Mr Monty
Sidelsky. The purpose of the visit was to inform us that we had to agree to
raise our prices to conform to the price structure of all the other members of
the Association. Mr Mathieson threatened that if we did not comply with
their demand they would start a price war and put us out of business.
As there were quite a few groups of bottle stores that belonged to
producers and individuals, who were members, they would have the power
to remain in a price war with some of the chain stores indefinitely. As we
were totally on our own there was no way that we would survive. He told us
emphatically that all the big liquor producers and wholesalers had large
stores and it would not affect them one bit to arrange to sell their goods at
cost in their few bottle stores that were closest to us.
As they were giants with a tremendous amount of clout and power
and we were only a one-man show, what chance would we have? Either we
raised out prices or we would go bust. The Association had already
succeeded in getting other stores to conform to their pricing structure or
else had made them insolvent.
My reply was to order them to leave our premises immediately
without further discussion.
As I had no intention of heeding their request that we conform to their
“suggested” retail pricing, we simply carried on as usual.
The following night round about 11 p.m. I received a telephone call at
home from The Rand Daily Mail, which was then a daily morning newspaper,
informing me that five or six stores in our vicinity were going to “war”
against us because they had the power to carry on selling liquor at cost as
long as it would take until we capitulated.
I was simply “stunned” to learn that my good friend Mr Sam Linz who
owned Rebel, had actually put the Rebel Rosebank branch into the price war
against us. Our families were friendly even though there was a vast age
87
difference, and Linz had learned a tremendous amount about the liquor
industry from me. Some time before Gilbeys had offered me the Smugglers
stores to run - these were a small chain of not very successful stores - and I
had brought Linz in to be a partner with Gilbeys and me and help with
running them. I must admit he was a very fast learner and an astute
business man, but to go into price war with a friend and partner was not
what I would have expected from him.
This situation put me into a quandary making me give serious thought
to the entire situation. Fortunately I did not panic. My first call the next
morning was to Mr Alan Bell, managing director of Gilbey’s, to inform him
that one of the stores taking part in the price war was Rebel, in which
Gilbey’s had a share. His reply was that as he was only a 49% partner in
Rebel, there was simply nothing that he could do. My immediate reply was
that obviously the same applied to my store, as Gilbey's also only held 49%
of my store. I told him that in view of all this I would immediately exercise
my right to buy back their shares. (Rebel stayed on with Gilbeys.)
Now that I was once again going to be a sole owner, I had to think of
my survival in the liquor industry. I decided to phone Dr Mouton of the Board
of Trade and Industry in Pretoria. He took my call immediately when he was
told who the caller was. I explained that I did not expect anyone to defend
me in this “price war” but only wanted to know if the Witwatersrand Bottle
Store Keepers’ Association was able to “force” me to increase my prices to
comply with theirs.
"Such action," said Dr Mouton, " would be an infringement of Resale
Price Maintenance legislation.”
He added, "Would you be prepared to make a statement to the South
African Police Commercial Branch?”
I said, "Willingly! And I must thank you for giving me the opportunity
to take the matter to you and for giving me the assurance that I am
definitely within my rights.”
"I am going to send somebody to see you. I want you to give him a
statement, I must say I have waited a long time for someone with the
gumption to stand up against the Association.”
Shortly after that call a Lt Heystek of the Commercial Branch phoned
and made an appointment to see me. Sylvia was at my side all the while and
88
when I gave him the facts of what had happened, he emphasised that he
would be dealing with the Association from then onwards and we should just
concentrate on keeping our liquor store going.
The very next day Lt Heystek paid a visit to the offices of the
Witwatersrand Bottle Store Keepers’ Association. He went through their
records and impounded their minute book in which it was clearly stated that,
at a meeting held two days before his visit, the directors of some of the
liquor chains belonging to the Association had said that it was time to get
Benny Goldberg into line.
Lt Heystek contacted those directors concerned requesting them to
come to Marshall Square, Johannesburg’s largest central police station, to
have their fingerprints taken. He informed them that a case was to be laid
against them personally as they were guilty of infringing the Resale Price
Maintenance law. Among those directors were: Sam Linz and Syd Selati of
the Rebel group; Norman Kramer and John Hooper of the Solly Kramer
group; David Magid and another of the Western Province group.
The press took up this story about the price war in front page articles
describing it as a David and Goliath story. It praised us for the courageous
stand that we had taken in not giving into the demands of the large chains
bearing in mind that this so-called price war was being waged by them
against one loner.
In the meantime it was business as usual for us. I had always been
recognised as giving excellent service and very fair prices, which I
constantly tried to reduce. No prices were changed in the store and we
carried on as before. In my operation any changes were dealt with within
minutes. Unlike large corporations I did not have to wait for a scheduled
board meeting. All I had to wait for was Sylvia’s mathematics and the
computers. Most of our customers remained loyal and continued to support
us, as did the press.
How well I recall a visit I had a couple of days into the war from Mr
Barney Kramer, a senior member of the Kramer family, who arrived at the
store with his brother Norman and someone from the Association. When he
saw how busy the store was on a mid-week day as well as knowing the
support I was receiving from customers and from the press, he admonished
his colleagues for having been so short-sighted and having made Benny
89
Goldberg the HERO OF THE LIQUOR INDUSTRY.

Their actions had boomeranged and turned me into a consumer hero.
By now it was obvious that this price war was a futile exercise. It was going
nowhere at all and exactly ten days from its start, it ended with some very
unhappy professional men who were now having charges laid against them
by the Commercial Branch of the SA Police. As for us, we had previously
booked for a short holiday in Spain and went ahead with our plans,
confidently knowing that we had won the fight.
A few months later when the case finally came up in court, there were
some very anxious directors of liquor chains (some of whom were chartered
accountants). If there was a criminal action against them their status as
directors could be affected. Fortunately for these men they got off on a
technicality of the law but they were reprimanded. The court made a ruling
that in the future the Association could only suggest recommended prices,
but could not enforce them.
As a result, to this day the Association cannot force any liquor store to
adhere to their price structure. We personally had nothing to do with the
actual case – after all was said and done it was handled by the Board of Trade
and the Commercial Branch, however one thing was very, very clear - that
nobody would ever be able to try and enforce Resale Price Maintenance in
the liquor industry in South Africa again.
It was ludicrous that some of these self-same directors blamed me for
making them go through the ordeal of the court. They seemed to have
forgotten the incriminating evidence in the minute book clearly recording
that they would all be happy to see me disappear from the competitive
scene, regardless of the fact that some of them were long-standing
colleagues and even partners of mine at that time. Well, that’s life! I
personally bear no malice against any of them.
Fortunately, not only did we have enemies, we also had very many
good friends in retail liquor stores. One friend, Costa Moriates, used to brag
to the wholesale and retail contacts that he had access to the largest
warehouse, namely his good friends the Goldbergs. Other liquor friends
consisted of Abbie Tren, Monty Sidelsky, and Cape Town retailers namely
Abe Cohen, Arthur Friedberg, Sakkie Shakinovsky, Kurt, Michael, and Peter
Sternberg.
90
Now that the dust has settled, I look back at that trying period with
gratitude to the directors for having created all that free publicity which only
resulted in more and more business being sent my way and for having had
an indirect role in a ruling that helped the consumers get a fair deal. Their
intention had been to force me out of business, not to make me renowned.
It gave me a great deal of pride and satisfaction in knowing that I had
been able to achieve this victory single-handedly.
91
92
Chapter 11
Executives’ Association of Southern Africa
In the 1970s through one of my customers, Gwyn Hill-Lewis of Hill-

Lewis Adams, a Venetian blind company, I was invited to become a member
of an organisation known as
Executives’ Association of Southern
Africa.
This was a business
organisation that only accepted one
member from each business field
and it was affiliated on an
international level to executive
associations in several countries.
The purpose of this association was
to help members to network with
one another. The slogan “Business
is our Business”, was indeed
meaningful and presented
members with opportunities to
meet on a senior management
level. Several members became
loyal customers of ours, always
dealing with me personally.
Sylvia in her role as the first female president of
These meetings were held The Executives’ Association
monthly and guest speakers of a
high calibre were invited to address their prestigious gatherings. Some of
their guest speakers were legends in their time, like Margaret Lessing, Val
Mickelborough, Kate Turkington and Clem Suntner.
In 1978 I approached the secretary to enrol Sylvia as an additional
representative of the company. This application was refused as the
Association only accepted males.
I was totally shocked. I explained that not only was Sylvia a director
of the company but she played an important role in our organisation.
93
I presume that the constitution was changed to permit females to

become members and Sylvia became the first representative of the majority
sex to become a member. It was always amusing as guest speakers, on
starting their address, would say “Lady and Gentlemen”.
As I now had the new building plan in my head, I attended fewer
meetings of the Association but Sylvia continued attending meetings and
continued doing a good job. In the meantime a few more women were
admitted as members.
When we visited Dallas for a Wine and Spirit Guild of America
convention. Sylvia was invited to attend a breakfast meeting of the
Executives’ Association. She had to travel alone through Dallas at seven
o’clock in the morning while it was still dark to get to the distant destination
in time and her arrival was greeted with shock.
The audience knew the visitor was coming from South Africa, but
they did not expect their guest to be white or female. All three of these facts
were foreign to that membership, and Sylvia was ignored, but that was in
1980 and things have changed since then, in
South Africa as well as in America.
Sylvia got herself involved to such an
extent that she was elected Deputy President
of the Association in 1980. There was great
excitement as this honour was recognised not
only in South Africa but on a global level too.
In 1981 Sylvia was voted in as the first
ever female President of the Association.
Sylvia proved to be a dynamic president who
had the loyal support of the entire
membership.
Vice State President, Alwyn
During that year her main guest speaker Schlebusch, guest of honour at an
Executive Association function
was the State's first Vice-President and during Sylvia’s reign as President.
She is seen here wearing the
Chairman of the President's Council, Mr Alwyn President’s Collar
Schlebush, who had been elected the previous
year.
94
Executives’ Association of Southern Africa
This luncheon was held at the new Carlton Hotel and was attended by
about 400 people. Mr Schlebush was impressed with the running of the
Association and admitted to Sylvia that most of his wine purchases for some
years had been done on his behalf by either members of his family or staff at
our store.
That very afternoon he paid a personal visit to the store and
thoroughly enjoyed the fun of shopping there and viewing the large
selection of South African wines. It was most surprising to note the South
Africa’s State Vice-President walking through the store using his own
camera to take photos of Sylvia.
95
Sylvia receiving a presentation at the Executive Association lunch
96
Chapter 12
American Conventions
The Wine and Spirit Guild of America held conventions twice a year,
during their spring and fall seasons. These meetings were of great interest
to all because we benefited from the cross section of ideas that were placed
on the table for discussion.
It was not always possible for us to attend. We did, however, make a
point of going to Hawaii in 1981, accompanied by Michael Fridjhon, an
expert in the wine industry, even in those days, and two gentlemen from a
leading South African winery. Our intention was to promote South African
wines and for this purpose we booked a hospitality suite.
We set ourselves up and invited members to try our wines during their
leisure times. This exercise turned out to be an absolute disaster. Members
did not know what Pinotage was and did not like the taste of it - in fact, they
thought that it was dreadful.
My, my, how times have changed. Not too many years ago we could
not even make sufficient Pinotage to supply the South African market let
alone the overseas market, including that of America.
At the welcoming function by the host Alan Kam, I was placed at the
main table next to Alan and his wife Correne. Sylvia managed to remain
with our new-found friends towards the end of the room. I realised how
different our cultures were, even though we had common liquor interests.
Alan proudly told me that we were having a traditional Hawaiian meal called
a “luah”. This sounded great, until I found out that a “luah” was a roast pig
that was covered in palm leaves and placed in the ground with coals to roast
slowly. I ate all the trimmings and had to do some fancy footwork to hide
some of the pork under lettuce leaves. While I was so embarrassed, Sylvia
and the others were very amused! It was fun at midnight when we all went
off looking for a coffee shop and finished up with cinnamon toast and coffee
for dinner.
It was while we were in Hawaii on May 8 that we got the news that our
second grandson, David, had been born. Bradley, the eldest, was already
three and a bit. Even without cell phones and e-mail we were kept informed.
97
As we were 12 hours behind, the hour of his birth had not been
reached in Hawaii but we were thrilled with his arrival, knowing we would be
back in sunny South Africa in time for his Brismilah (circumcision), which
would be 7 days later.
Quite a few of the members later visited South Africa, several coming
for YPO (Young Presidents Organisation) and the itinerary included a
personal tour of the store by me. Sylvia and I personally hosted Ralph and
Harriet Kaplan from Kappy's Liquors of Boston, together with Joel Gosler,
who was the United States sales manager of Grants Whiskey, and his
charming wife Diane. To this day we are honorary members of the Guild.
Another time we attended a convention in New York. We will always
remember that particular visit. The social events sponsored by liquor
suppliers were spectacular functions.
One of the functions was hosted by Seagrams at the Waldorf Astoria
Hotel Ballroom. These functions certainly were grand, the likes of which we
have not experienced before or since. The Americans sure know how to do
things in grandiose style.
A function we shall never forget took place at the top of the World
Trade Centre and was hosted by Joel and Diane Gosler of Grants Whiskey.
After enjoying hors’ d'ouvres and cocktails, we entered a large beautifully
decorated banqueting hall. On each table stood an imposing statue, dressed
in Scottish attire, holding a bottle of Grants Whiskey. This was so impressive
that I could not take my eyes off these statues. As I constrained myself for a
few minutes, while continuing to stare at the statues, I thought that I saw an
eye blink.
I was so fascinated that I climbed on the table to touch a statue and to
my astonishment I discovered that they were mime artists and shouted out
aloud that they were all alive and real people. This discovery happened a
little earlier than planned by the organisers, but as we all know, I am
impetuous. The mime artists then came off the tables to mingle with the
guests. What a party that was!
We are so sad that those buildings no longer exist. We were horrified
to hear what happened to the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001
when men affiliated to al-Qaeda hijacked commercial jet airliners and flew
these fuel-filled planes into the North and South Towers, causing them both
98
to collapse within two hours killing about 3 000 people. What terrible harm
hate-filled fanatics can cause.
The Guild took a decision to hold the second 1981 convention in Italy,
so we made plans to fly directly to Italy to link up with the Americans. Sylvia
and I joined up with a group from the Wine and Spirit Guild of America who
were doing an extensive luxury trip of the big liquor companies, which had
literally supplied millions of cases of mainly wines and some spirits and
liqueurs to the United States of
America. Needless to say, the
Americans were given right royal
treatment. This was a
memorable experience for us.
Here we were, the couple from
Johannesburg, South Africa,
travelling in luxury buses with
about 80 Americans, to wineries
and banquet receptions. We
thoroughly enjoyed all of this and
made many friends with Guild
members.
We travelled with them
from one winery to another.
Towards the end of the trip, the
group went by bus from Milan to
Lake Como, where the
headquarters of Campari was
situated. After we had Staying at Villa D’Este on lake Como during Wine &
Spirit Guild tour of Italy
disembarked, the welcoming
committee greeted everyone
warmly and then enquired from the group, “Where are the Goldberg’s?”
What a welcome we received here as the only two South Africans
amongst these leading liquor retailers from America. At the luncheon held at
the world-renowned Villa d’Este hotel, we were placed at the main table with
the directors of Campari.
99
The directors had heard how successful we had been with the sales of
Campari in far away South Africa and wanted to talk to us about our
promotions. They had also heard that we had promoted Campari personally
by holding tastings at various functions and that we had emphasised that
this particular drink could be offered at any time of day. At that stage no
tastings of wines or spirits were allowed on liquor supermarket premises.
Fortunately this law has now been changed. We had not realised that our
small efforts were known in Italy, the news having even reached the
directors.
During the luncheon, one of the directors said to me that the press
was there and wanted to interview the man from South Africa who had the
largest liquor supermarket
in the world. Sylvia and I
went onto the balcony with
the Campari directors and
were photographed with
them with the beautiful
Lake Como as a
background. The reporters,
naturally, were all speaking
in Italian, which the
Campari directors
Campari luncheon at lake Como with the Kaplan family
from Boston who run a large chain of stores known as translated for my benefit.
Kappy’s
They asked me a lot of
questions, including what
the annual turnover of such a store might be and I gave a figure.
That night I woke up with a start and thought what a terrible mistake I
had made with regards to giving a turnover figure as the leftist “Red
Brigade” in Italy was well known for kidnapping and assassinating Italian
government and business leaders. In fact, they were credited with 14 000
acts of violence during the 1970s.
First thing in the morning I called Campari and prevailed on them to
make SURE that no financial figures were printed. They said they would try
to do their best. I never knew if they had succeeded. Campari also
suggested that, instead of returning to South Africa on the Friday, we should
100
spend the weekend at the world-renowned Villa d’Este hotel and they would
ensure that a limousine would collect us in Milan on the Friday and return us
to the Milan airport on the Sunday.
On the Friday morning, a smartly dressed chauffeur in a smart black
limousine with the name of a limousine company inscribed on the door
collected us from the hotel in Milan and we had a luxury drive to Lake Como
on a main freeway going through quite a few toll gates. We thoroughly
enjoyed our weekend at this beautiful venue and were ready waiting, as
arranged, at midday on Sunday to be collected and taken to the Milan
airport.
An unmarked black car pulled up, a driver in a red short-sleeved shirt
got out and put our baggage in the boot and we started the journey which
we knew would be well over an hour. Sylvia seemed to be dozing during this
journey and I suddenly realised that we were no longer driving on a freeway,
but on narrow country roads. Now, the PANIC started! This was in my mind,
most certainly, the Red Brigade who were after us, right down to the driver,
no longer a smartly-dressed chauffeur, but a man clad in a tell-tale red shirt.
I nudged Sylvia awake to impart the news to her that we were being
kidnapped. In case the “kidnapper” understood English, I told her in
Afrikaans that as soon as the car slowed down a little, she was to open the
car door and roll out. She was not to worry about the baggage. What was
important was her life. She must try to escape this terrible event that was
about to take place. As usual Sylvia was much calmer than I was, and tried
to convince me that all was well. My imagination, nonetheless, still ran
haywire.
Eventually we saw a built-up area and lo and behold! We had arrived
at the Milan airport. The driver got out to assist us with our baggage and I
was so grateful to be safe and sound that in great relief I put my hands into
my pockets and handed to the driver whatever I had left in Italian currency.
He was simply astounded at the amount and kept on bowing down to thank
me. He made sure that his charges got into the air terminal safe and sound
for the return flight to Johannesburg. We then discovered that he was a local
man and had taken short cuts through the country to avoid paying the toll
gate fees. How relieved we both were that visions of my wild imagination
were unfounded!
101
That was not the only time that my wild imagination created problems
for me and for those around me. For example, I have always found such trips
stressful, not only because of fear of the Red Brigade, but also because of
fear of the greens. I had had a faulty green motor vehicle that had given me
so much trouble that I developed a complete superstition about anything
green. I also have a phobia about flying a phobia far more common in
those days when plane trips were longer and less popular than they are
today.
In the late 70's, we went abroad on a buying trip, accompanied by our
resident wine expert and “adopted son”, Michael Fridjhon. We travelled with
Michael around the French winelands, namely Bordeaux, as well as to
Reims, a town in the Champagne district, which is the champagne capital of
France. I felt so anxious about this trip that I did not even want a single fleck
of green in any piece of luggage brought along with us. I would not even
pack a green neck tie.
We had not been in Reims long when Michael heard a commotion
coming from our room and knocked on our hotel door, wanting to know if
anything was wrong. He found me most upset. I had just discovered that
Sylvia had had the audacity to bring with her an emerald green dress. I
demanded that the dress be removed from the room immediately. Michael
saved the day by offering to take the dress and he arranged for it to be
packed with shipments of champagne that were being sent to us.
That evening, we were being hosted by Lanson to a dinner at the
Chateau belonging to the controlling shareholder.We had the sole South
African agency for Lanson Champagne which came in bottles of all different
sizes, from the very large salmanazar to the quarter bottles. In French style,
the food and champagne at the dinner were superb. We had already been
offered the use of Lanson's helicopter to get from Reims to Beaune - capital
of the Burgundy wine trade - where we had appointments that same day
with our suppliers, Bouchard Pere & Fils, an offer Michael had accepted on
our behalf, recognising that a short helicopter flight would save us five hours
of road travel.
At the dinner, Lanson's director mentioned that a private helicopter
owned by one of the opposition champagne companies had had a mishap
and had lost two of its customers in the air crash. He continued, by saying
102
that Lanson employed a superb German helicopter pilot. As you can

imagine, this story did little to lift my mood I had felt anxious about the
jaunt ever since Michael had committed us to the helicopter option.
The next morning we arrived at the chateau behind which the helipad
was situated. Michael was the first one to walk to that area, followed closely
by Sylvia and me. Can you imagine my horror to discover that this helicopter
was green? Not only was it was green INSIDE, it was also green OUTSIDE!!
Michael knew me well enough to recognise that a delayed departure
would only give me the opportunity to raise my many objections to the mode
of transport - and to its colour scheme. In fluent French he explained the
situation to our hosts and ensured that, following hurried goodbyes, Sylvia
and I were immediately rushed on board and seated at the back. Michael sat
in front with the pilot. The helicopter took off, went straight up and then
remained hovering in mid-air while the pilot consulted the map and obtained
details from Michael for accurate directions.
That was enough for me. I decided that as it did not look as though the
pilot knew where he was going, it would be far better if he just took us
straight down instead. Here again, Michael translated what the pilot was
saying and the journey continued as planned and, within less than half an
hour, we had arrived at a private airstrip. There, two very attractive young
French ladies dressed in the chic Avis uniform were awaiting our arrival as
Michael had booked a car for the rest of the journey. I confess that I felt most
relieved to get out of that GREEN helicopter.
I do not know how we would we have managed without Michael. He is
truly unique. He is most knowledgeable, kind and caring and is always there
when we need him. Michael and his late father, Harold, had originally
encouraged me to write my memoirs. He has ben involved, on the sidelines,
all the time of recording these memoirs. Meeting him was one of the most
fortunate events in our lives.
Thinking back to our first visit to the Wine and Spirit Guild of America
in Dallas, Mark and our advertising agents had arranged for us to visit South
Fork, the ranch which was used for the then popular TV series Dallas. This
show so captivated South African audiences that almost everything came to
a standstill at 9pm on a Tuesday night when it showed. Restaurants,
cinemas and theatres had to close their doors on Tuesdays due to lack of
103
support. In anticipation of this special trip, Sylvia and I had bought

authentic cowboy outfits, boots and all, topping it with ten-gallon cowboy
hats in Dallas.
Mark had arranged in Johannesburg for us to be accompanied on the
long journey there by a professional photographer as we hoped to use the
photos in an advertising campaign. What a disappointment it was when we
arrived there to find an empty set, consisting of a fence and the facade of a
mansion. We were truly in the “sticks”. The only vehicle that passed us on
that desolate country road was a school bus. We were really disillusioned by
Dallas life. We did not even catch a glimpse of JR lurking around.
Notwithstanding all this, the photographer captured the magic of the
Dallas set by getting me to sit on the fence and he zoomed in on the house,
which on the photographs appeared to be very close up. We were excited
about these but the wind was soon knocked out of my sails and the
disillusionment really set in when we were told that there was a copyright on
the Dallas series and we were not allowed to use the photos. It was fun but
what a waste of time and money.
104
Chapter 13
From Boeing hangar to supermarket
Believe it or not we were once again bursting at the seams and one
day when I was very stressed, a fastidious customer irritated me to such an
extent that in temper I stated that I had had enough of the business and
would like to get out. As I have mentioned, I did have a very short fuse.
"Are you serious?" he asked.
“Yes!”
Two days later he phoned to make an appointment to bring in a
prospective buyer. He introduced us to a charming gentleman by the name
of Tony Bloom of the Premier Group, who as a wine connoisseur was one of
our regular customers.
The Christmas season, which for us started on the 1st November, was
approaching. We were so busy making up hampers as gifts for our corporate
customers and making up bulk liquor orders, we had no time for further
discussion and the matter was left in abeyance.
After the end of the busy period, we went on vacation to Muizenberg
to join our cousins, who had a holiday home there. We received a phone call
from Tony Bloom. He said his father wanted to meet us and gave us the
number of his father’s beach box where we would find him.
At that time many colourfully painted small wooden chalets had been
erected on the Muizenberg beachfront, which stretched for miles. One could
let these from the city council to use for changing into and out of swimwear,
for storing beach chairs, umbrellas and some refreshments. Holidaymakers
would sit in front of their regular boxes, and hold court, knowing that their
friends would know where they were.
We soon located Mr Bloom's box and had great pleasure in meeting
Joe Bloom, chairman of the Premier Group, and his charming wife Margaret.
We instantly felt at ease in his company. We sat on the warm sands
discussing the proposition with the sounds of the sea gulls overhead and the
waves in front - this was a business meeting and a boardroom with a
difference and the informality and friendly atmosphere was to be the
105
hallmark of our relationship with the Blooms.

Joe Bloom told us that the Premier Group would consider buying 50%
of the business on condition that the Goldberg family continued to run it as
they were doing at that time. He emphasised that he would instruct his staff
not to interfere in any way in the running of the business.
Upon our return to Johannesburg Tony Bloom again took up the
matter. Once Sylvia and I had had the privilege of meeting these charming
and great businessmen from one of South Africa’s largest listed companies,
I now became enthusiastic at the idea of having Premier as a “big brother”
and a fifty percent stake holder while remaining in the industry.
I already had an idea of expanding onto a huge adjacent site of about
three acres on Louis Botha Avenue. The cash injection from the 50% sale
would enable us to purchase this property so that we could do so. Our deal
was completed with Tony Bloom and the two families merged amicably. I
only have fond memories and utter respect for the Bloom Family.
Shortly afterwards, in March 1978, Sylvia and I attended the second
Nederburg wine auction held at the Nederburg Wine Estate at Paarl. In those
days a sumptuous lunch was served buffet style.
The auction took place in a marquee and as one could well imagine
the heat and the concentration of the bidding took its toll. Patrick Grubb of
Sotheby's of London was the auctioneer and we spent the entire afternoon
bidding successfully for a large
variety of prestigious South African
wines. Just before the auction was
finalised, an announcement was
made by Mr Grubb, that a special
bottle of Martell cognac would be
auctioned at the close of the event,
the funds of which would be
Benny fervently bidding at the Nederburg
donated to the Southern Cross Fund
Auction, accompanied by Sylvia and Stanley
which looked after our soldiers on
the Border.
I mentioned to Sylvia that I had decided to buy the bottle and I
opened the bidding at R500. Mr Sam Linz then stood up real tall and said:
“We, of the Rebel Liquor Stores, bid R1 000”.
106
From Boeing hanger to supermarket
The press and photographers ran towards Mr Linz and all I did was
raise my finger and offer R1 500.
Mr Linz dropped back into his seat and the bid was knocked down to
me. Bedlam broke out because nowhere in the world at that stage had a
bottle of cognac ever fetched the price of R1 500. It was overwhelming. At
this stage, the value R1500 for a
bottle of ANY spirit was a mind-
boggling price. My intention had
only been to make a donation to the
Southern Cross Fund. I had not
anticipated that there would have
been all this fuss.
What with all the interviews
we eventually left Paarl at 7pm and
I said to the family that Tony Bloom
would think that I had gone crazy.
This news item was featured on the
8pm SABC TV news. Just as soon as
we reached the hotel room the
telephone started to ring. The first
call was from Tony. I froze and held
Benny ecstatic after paying top price for this
my breath and all I heard was: bottle, as all funds went to charity for this item
“Benny, you are a star!”
The publicity that this charity purchase brought, was something that
in my wildest dreams I neither
imagined nor expected. What a stir
it caused. It even continued until
the 1st April some weeks
afterwards.
With prior notice, a morning
radio show called Radio Today,
phoned me to ask if I would consent
to a prank they were planning
during a live early morning Benny and Sylvia after the Auction being
photographed by the press as being the No 1
broadcast. They would phone me to buyer
107
enquire if it were true that when I had opened the much-discussed bottle of
cognac it had contained some concoction and not the genuine cognac. I
verily agreed to the prank as an April Fool joke.
Within an hour of the broadcast the local Martell agents called me to
complain about my statement. Then I received a call from Martell Cognac in
France, reprimanding me for having made such a derogatory statement. I
am not sure whether France has an April Fool’s
Day or not.
This new story now hit the headlines in
our daily newspapers AGAIN, where it was
confirmed that this was, indeed, only an April
Fool’s joke and that in fact the actual bottle in
From left: Benny, Marlene Steyn,

question had not been opened. I believe that to
Ghys Steyn & Sylvia with her this day this valuable bottle of Cognac remains
matching hat, at the Nederburg
Auction unopened and undrunk, so I am unable to
vouch for the quality of its contents.
For the next 20 years or so, it became a well-known fact that the final
charity item on the auction was always bought by us. The highest price I
paid was R20 000.00 for a bottle of genuine 18th/19th century Constantia
made by the Cloetes on the estate established by Simon van der Stel who
was the Governor of the Cape from 1679 – 1699. The bottle came from the
cellar of the Duke of Northumberland and there was some uncertainty about
the vintage. His family had acquired the 1791 and the 1809, but over time
the bottles had been consolidated into one storage bin. Without labels, no
one could say which year was which. I believe the retail and restaurant
liquor trade enjoyed trying to see how far up they could push us.
We displayed that bottle of 200-year-old wine in a special cabinet in
the store together with the other wines bought over the years at the charity
auctions. We left those wines in the store when we eventually sold the store
to the Premier Group, believing they were an integral part of the Benny
Goldberg legend. Unfortunately, the new owner, who hailed from Cape Town
had different views.
One year – at the Nederburg Auction - after a very tiring day trying to
concentrate on the bidding, we found that we had actually purchased 25%
of the entire quantity of wines placed on auction that day. Naturally, we had
108
done our homework beforehand, and as a team, had attended the pre-
auction wine tasting, and had decided on the quantity and price we would
prefer to pay for each different item on auction.
Sylvia, sitting by my side, was quick to calculate when prices and
quantity did not go as we had expected and when, as the only woman buyer
at the auction, she raised the bidding paddle with our buyer's number on it,
Patrick Grubb often remarked, “Sold to the lady with the delightful hat!” and
he always kept an eye open for our paddle.
Whilst most people regarded the Nederburg Auction as a very special
gala day similar to a day at Ascot, we took it seriously and became renowned
for the selection of Nederburg Auction wines that were always in stock in our
store. We developed a clientele, who waited anxiously each year to
purchase “Auction Wines“.
In 1978 Rand Daily Mail newspaper decided to hold the first wine
festival - this was five years after we had started bringing a large variety of
wines up to the Transvaal. Many of the liquor stores were connected to
producers, like Western Province was to Distillers Corporation, and they had
always recommended their own house products.
Naturally we wanted to join this wine festival, however, after the price
war debacle, we were not popular with many of those opposition liquor
stores and we were informed that there were already too many participating
stores holding tastings of South African wines at the festival, but, if we really
wanted to take part, they would only allow us to hold a tasting of sparkling
wines - the name used for South Africa’s own champagne.
The wine festival was held for three or four days and it was held in a
home that had belonged to Charles Engelhardt and had been sold – but the
new owner had not yet taken occupation. As it was a completely new
concept, nobody knew what to expect. We came up with the idea that, as we
were only doing sparkling wine and as we only had been allocated a tiny
space in a room at the swimming pool area, we would put up white Broderie
Anglaise parasols with some flowers.
We managed to find a small ornamental fountain and instead of
letting water pump through this, we naturally came up with a unique idea of
mixing sparkling wine and cassis liquer, this combination is known as "Kir
Royale". What an outstanding success the stall was!!
109
One taste of our Kir Royale and many of the wine tasters decided, “No
more experimenting with dreary other wines. Let's stick to this fun party
drink.”
We were bombarded by eager tasters. We were simply astounded by
this unexpected success and as the first night was a Friday night, and as
everyone had worked very hard all day, this was really strenuous work.
When I together with the boys eventually joined them at the festival
after closing the store, I noticed what great difficulty Sylvia and a female
staff member were experiencing in manning the stall as well as trying to
open the sparkling wine bottles. Naturally I went to the ladies’ rescue and
took over and started popping corks from the sparkling wine bottles. This
proved great fun for me as well, as the corks shot up and hit the ceiling. This
little unplanned extra gimmick was not only great fun for me, but brought
the tasters around to join in these shenanigans.
(The following week was not so funny, when the bill arrived for the
damage that I personally had caused to the ceiling in the Pool and Music
Room. Nothing I could do but pay it with a smile.)
And then in the middle of all the excitement and popping corks the
news came through that Stanley’s wife Beverlee, had given birth to our very
first grandson, Bradley, that night of the 6th of February 1978.
The next day the Rand Daily Mail's
headline read
New Champagne born to the

Goldbergs
on opening night of the wine
festival.
Business continued, and as well as

being busy with Bradley - Stanley, Uncle
Mark and the proud grandparents were also
busy with another new “baby” which, when
completed, measured 95 000 square feet
Bradley, age 5 (9500 square metres). The designing and
110
planning of our new building was handled by very efficient professional

people together with Stanley, Mark and myself and we gave them details of
the layout that I required for them to work on and include in the plans. I
wanted to incorporate into this new building so many of the features and
details I had learnt. There were the experiences I had gained from my
existing store, from the actual selling area, from the administration section,
the computers and from the newly acquired National Cash Register points-
of-sale and I knew full well which areas needed improvement.
With Sylvia doing more than her fair share of keeping the wheels oiled
and rolling in the existing store, my two sons and I were given the
opportunity to start planning a very large complex that would finally link up
with the existing supermarket we were in. The entire property would span
over three streets. Eventually with Stanley and Mark’s help the architect got
the plans approved.
The first time that I realised that the show was actually on the road
was when the excavators arrived and dug a huge hole, which was the width
of this entire new site. After that two levels of basements were built and the
construction of the ground level building took place.
When we visited the excavation, the basement area was likened to a
Boeing hangar. The so-called opposition who came snooping around were
happy to pour cold water on my ideas. This “gi-normous” place, we were
told, would become a white elephant. It could only be used as a bowling
alley or even a rugby field. Fortunately once I have thought a thing through,
I am not easily put off. Our amazing, caring partner, fondly known as Papa
Joe Bloom, frequently visited us at the site and he gave us all the
encouragement we so badly needed.
From 1978 building operations took well over a year and while the
new building was taking shape we were continuing operations at the
existing store. What a mammoth task that was, not only for me but also for
Sylvia and the boys as well. Fortunately by now Mark had returned from
Stellenbosch with some knowledge of wines. He came back to this gigantic
new store being built and immediately became involved with Stanley and
me in the actual store design, consulting on the overall ambience, design
elements of the store, including materials, finishes, lighting and, later,
elements of brand building, as well as starting to liase with our advertising
111
agency for Benny Goldberg's marketing and communications.

When we started advertising in the newspapers in the early days,
Sylvia and I always used to come up with the ideas. However placing these
ideas in the papers was not so easy. We had to try to get the best position in
the newspaper, to have the advertisement placed on the day we wanted it
and of course proof reading. We became so brazen that we then decided to
do a double page spread in the Star newspaper. The heading was supposed
to have read, in bold letters,
BENNY GOLDBERG CRASHES THE PRICE BARRIER.
We could not wait for the first edition to come out, and can you
imagine our horror, when we read,
BARNEY GOLDBERG CRASHES THE PRICE BARRIER.
Was this a proof reading error? Somehow, as there was a Barney

Kramer in retail liquor, this error
always remained a mystery. After
much heartache, this mistake was
rectified that same day in the
subsequent two later editions of the
Star.
A month or so later, a young
man came and introduced himself
to me. His name was Trevor
Goodgoll. He told me that he owned
an advertising agency, that he had
no experience in liquor advertising
but asked if I would give him
permission to roam around the
store and at a later stage, prepare a
presentation for me. Trevor did
An award winning advert outstanding work for us and from
112
then on did all our

advertising and received
many awards for some
of our retail advertising.
With Trevor in charge,
Sylvia and I no longer
had a headache from
trying experiences with
the newspapers. Later,
Mark went on to work
with him and we had a
The Grape Trek advert
good relationship.
Trevor now lives in
Canada, but remains in touch with the Goldbergs. He is as successful in
advertising in Canada as he was in South Africa.
When I started planning for the new store there were so many ideas
flooding my head that I had to put them down on paper. Many long and
sleepless nights were devoted to planning the interior of this store and the
family arguments continued until we reached agreement. I got tremendous
support from Stanley in the building operation and the interior had now to
be shaped and moulded to our needs.
Above the ground floor store
another level, designated for
executive offices, board room and
kitchen, was built, as well as a large
room which we envisaged using for
lectures to staff and customers and
for wine tasting, if and when this
would be allowed. When I planned
this room, I was looking into the One of our numerous eye-catching busses on the
streets of Johannesburg
future. Wine tasting, at that time,
was not allowed on off-licence
premises unlike in hotels, which were called on-licensed premises.
Fortunately, this has now changed and wine tastings and promotions are
common in many stores. The two executive offices included showers as we
113
spent well over 12 hours a day on the premises.

The interior design and furnishings were chosen by Mark and
approved by us all. The first office was mine and had a large glass window
from where I could observe activities in the store below. This was especially
built there for that purpose. There was also a platform that butted out before
the entrance to my office from where the entire ground floor could be seen.
The entire store and offices were air-conditioned, making it a
comfortable work zone. The actual store had a highly specialised electrical
system including a back-up generator for emergencies. In that era, that
kind of system was revolutionary and unique. We also installed a public
address system to give staff instructions and to make announcements to the
customers on specials and other items of interest.
A large despatch area was designated that was to be divided into
three sections: one for calling orders, the second for deliveries and the third
for returns. Another section was created for glass washing machines. The
boys and I put a lot of thought into
creating adequate refrigeration for
beers and wines. We were delighted
that we would have our own bonded
warehouse on the premises, which
was approved by the Department of
Customs and Excise.
Now came the mammoth
task of planning the layout of the
Interior of new store Wine Aisle, where all wines fittings and the width of the aisles
were displayed in alphabetical order. Note the
required. It was finally decided to
wide aisles for easy access
display South African wines in
alphabetical order as there was
such a tremendous range. This was another first in the industry, which made
it so much easier for customers, as well as being a boon for our sales and
packing staff. Then space had to be allocated for French wines, which
required a fair amount of place, as they had to be sorted into regions. In the
bulk beer and whisky section we had to ensure that the floor was reinforced
sufficiently to take the weight of our bulk stock.
114
Provision also had to be made for a case lot section. This was an area
allocated close to the tills, which was fully manned at all times so that
customers could order their case lots requirements while they continued
with their single bottle shopping. Suppliers recognised our large volumes
and accordingly gave us rebates and incentives.
One gondola was for various glasses – drinking, champagne, beer,
and sherry – for home bars. I started a cigar section with a superb selection.
We also sold cigarettes at cost.
Because of working on one level we had a whole maze of conveyor
belts leading from the basement to various areas of the store. The cases
were brought up from the basement by conveyor belt and placed for the
customer’s convenience in a trolley to be taken to the tills with the balance
of their purchases. We had 16 checkout points and worked out the
measurements so that the customer could not push a trolley through.
Purchases would have to be off-loaded and then re-loaded onto another
trolley. For the convenience of our shoppers we provided a parking lot of at
least one and a half acres.
It was truly to be the largest liquor supermarket in the world!
South African wine section with Cape Dutch gable
115
Just another view of the new liquor supermarket
One of the well known slogans of the store
116
Chapter 14
The world's largest liquor supermarket opens
The time had arrived to start planning the opening ceremony for what
was to be a totally new concept in selling liquor - a liquor supermarket. It
was most important to work out
what sort of specials to offer that
would entice both loyal old
customers and inquisitive new
customers into the new building.
I came up with the idea of
opening our modern 1979 shop
using 1959 prices, which would only
apply to certain lines of brandy and
whisky. Red-hot specials would
follow. This entailed many meetings
to negotiate the opening prices and
Ron Kapon’s article in the American magazine,
it was time for Sylvia to sharpen her Wine Spectator
pencil to see what could be

achieved with the suppliers and the wine farmers in order to get large
quantities of their products at very special prices. This was not too difficult
because of the good record we had
with our suppliers and because they
knew that this time we really meant
business. Many meetings and
bargaining sessions took place and
amicable arrangements were
agreed upon.
A hectic time followed with
the existing store still in operation
and the month-end rush looming;
there was the work involved with
our advertising agents producing
the special supplement to the With Stanley and Mark, making up the entire
Goldberg team
117
Sunday Times; planning the newspaper advertising campaign; making

arrangements for a large official opening; receiving incoming stock for the
new storerooms; getting the
gondolas filled; filling shelves and
bins and organising point of sale
signs.
Mark worked closely with
Trevor Goodgoll, managing director
of Goodgoll, Said, our advertising
agency, for the big launch in April
1979. They were a great innovative
team and our advertising campaign
This shot of the store was part of the TV advert
after being steered by Mark, as well
as the rest of the Goldberg team,
resulted in superb creative work and immediate brand recognition. Mark
had the pleasure of working with them for the first single retail store to go on
South African National TV to promote the largest liquor store in the world.
This advert flighted on national
television and proved an amazing
success.
Mark did not work full-time
for us for long. He went to work for a
short time at the advertising
agency, as a holiday job, to
understand the entire marketing
process. He related so well to it and
was offered a fulltime marketing
position. Despite working on
progressively larger accounts, he
still continued to spend Saturday
mornings, busier times and
Christmas working at Benny
Goldberg's.
Not quite sure how we managed to look so fresh, I just don’t know what I
having worked days and nights to be ready for
this great opening
would have done without the help I
118
The world’s largest liquor supermarket opens
received from Sylvia, from the boys and from my devoted staff. Very little
sleep was had by us all. I would go so far as to say that the excitement of this
new challenge charged us with extra energy enabling us to cope.
The official opening took place on the morning of the 27th April 1979
and what an exciting and memorable event that was.
The “Benny Goldberg Express”, a South African Airways flight from
Cape Town, brought many of the wine farmers and other prominent people
from the Cape liquor industry. Riaan Cruywagen, a popular TV personality
was our Master of Ceremonies.
Many of our guests, including the
wine farmers and the upper
echelons of the liquor industry were
thrilled to be able to meet him in
person as well as Vera Johns, a
South African beauty queen, who
was also there. All members of our
immediate family as well as close
friends attended this function, VIP Grand Opening of the store
which ended with a sumptuous

brunch. All this took place in the actual store.
The largest liquor supermarket in the world was officially opened by
Senator Owen Horwood, the Minister of Finance, who unveiled a plaque in
the entrance at the front door. In his address to the gathering, Senator
Horwood was very complimentary about what had been achieved including
the extent of our range and our export department. I then replied and
addressed our guests.
Every guest present signed the Visitors Book and now that I look back
through the pages it is heart-warming to read remarks such as:
Breathtaking Magic Super Stuff

Impressive to say the least
Cheers to the Leader of Liquor
You achieved the impossible
Larger than Life
119
And from a guest from a distillery in Ireland –

I have been in stores all over the world
but never in a store like Benny Goldberg’s
One of the guests, a friend of the family, and a particularly good friend
of Stanley and Mark’s, had brought a lovely young lady to the opening on
their first date, and signed the book, ‘Mr and Mrs’, with a rave report. The
young lady was quite stunned by this assumption, but happily, they were
married a short while later, with Mark as their best man, making the guest
book perfectly correct.
Out of the many gifts, flowers, plaques and letters from all over the
world one gift of an onyx pen stand that was bought from Katz and Lourie
read:
BENNY GOLDBERG
THE UNDISPUTED LEADER OF THE WORLD
A MAN OF GREAT COURAGE AND DETERMINATION
FROM A LONGSTANDING FRIEND AND ADMIRER.
Another plaque says:

PRESENTED BY
SEAGRAM OVERSEAS SALES COMPANY
TO
BENNY & SYLVIA GOLDBERG
WHOSE DEDICATION AND INTEGRITY MADE POSSIBLE
THE OPENING OF THIS,
THE WORLD’S LARGEST LIQUOR SUPERMARKET
APRIL 27th 1979
We kept many of these mementoes and enjoy the memories they
bring back.
While on this high, the adrenaline flowed and we all worked the entire
weekend to be ready for the grand opening week, starting on Monday, the
30th April, 1979.
120
The Sunday Times

carried a supplement we
had prepared on the new
liquor supermarket, and
the front page featured
our wedding photograph,
with a headline asking
what this couple had done
during the past 25 years.
My old golfing
friend Bob Connolly, the
cartoonist, featured the
opening in his Breakfast
Quip in the Rand Daily
Mail. His cartoon featured
a conversation between
two men. The questioner
asked why did Senator
Horwood open the Benny
Goldberg Liquor
Supermarket in the
morning and the Store buzzing during the opening week
Johannesburg Stock
Exchange in the afternoon of the
same day and the answer was that
he did the one with the largest
turnover first. That was some joke
that was!
The festive atmosphere of
the grand opening lasted the
entire week during which certain
items were sold at the actual price
they had gone for in 1959, 20
years previously. During that week Pylon to be seen from far away and the parking
stretching from two streets up to the largest
a total of 40 000 people went liquor supermarket
121
through the supermarket. Lengthy queues formed because we could only

admit and handle a few hundred people at a time and strict control had to be
enforced. Customers were only allowed in once trolleys became available.
The climax of the
week was on the Friday and
Saturday. The Traffic
Department was out in full
force to control the flow!
The queue stretched from
our front door right down to
Louis Botha Avenue! We
had to close the doors and
only allow a limited amount
of would-be customers in at
a time! We were forced to
Store buzzing during the opening week

control the crowd entering
the store as all the trolleys
were being used!
Fortunately we were able to keep everybody happy. I do not think
any of my staff will forget that week. Robbie Hotz described it like
this:
“WOW! What an eye-opener and what an opening. Speaking of
personality, there were plenty of them, such as Bill Hailey & the
Comets, rugby players, politicians, and there was even a full
Dixieland band – what a vibe! What a buzz! I was in the store for ten
solid days, the specials were INCREDIBLE, Corona Brandy – R1.69,
top of aisle seven. Once the gondola bins were empty, customers
were hanging on for new stock to be delivered. It reminded me of
people hanging on to an overcrowded train or bus. Other specials that
come to mind include Johnny Walker Red at R4.99 a bottle.”
We placed a sign saying ‘Maximum 2 bottles per customer’ above one
of our red-hot special bins which contained an absinthe called “Pernod”, with
a flavour of aniseed, which we were selling at an extremely low price. Whilst
our staff were trying to fill the bin, we overheard quite a few people saying,
“Great! We managed to get 2 bottles of Pernod! Not quite sure what it is, or
122
how to drink it, but a bargain is a bargain!”

What a week that was! How we and our staff survived was a miracle,
even with the many extra helpers, students, wine promoters and anyone
else who was prepared to help. I had one very big stipulation that applied
to each and everyone working in the store and also to any liquor reps visiting
– they were NOT allowed to park in our large parking lot, as this was
reserved for our customers to make it easier for them to gain access. How
our suppliers were able to continue delivering more and more goods to us
was a bigger miracle, because we sold out just as fast as stock arrived.
Throughout this time we were struggling to get in more deliveries,
bearing in mind that we had stocked up as much as we possibly could before
hand. On the Thursday we actually ran out of Castle cans and were told by
SA Brewery, Isando, that they too were depleted of stock, due to our
demands. We gave this information to our disc jockey, who broadcast the
fact that we had sold out of Castle cans and that there was no more stock left
in the Transvaal. Wow! Unbeknown to us someone from SA Breweries was
in the store at the time and, being most embarrassed by this
announcement, immediately arranged for further supplies to come to us,
overnight, from their Durban depot. Our main concern was that we had to be
able to keep the promises we had made in our adverts and supply our
customers with all their needs. This included searching the basement for
rare stock for clients, and checking on Despatch orders.
Mark described me “ as constantly standing on the balcony, with a
hawk's eye, directing staff like the captain of the ship, making sure that
every customer's needs were always catered for.” The balcony had a
maritime theme and was decorated with an assortment of maritime
attachments like compasses, clocks, buoys marked SS Goldberg and the
like.
Benny Goldberg’s Liquor Supermarket became a legend, with a most
upmarket status. Restaurants, pubs and clubs bought from us, considering
us as a one-stop shop. They came from far off places to get supplies.
Suddenly I found myself a role model for aspirant businesspeople.
All our married lives, Sylvia and I, were ardent Frank Sinatra fans. I
loved to use the famous words from one of Frankie’s songs:
“I DID IT MY WAY.”
123
In 1980 I had a visit from Professor Sandra van der Merwe who, with
her husband André, headed the Witwatersrand Graduate School of
Business. She was impressed by the store and with the progress that I had
made and invited me to address the
Business School. Tony Factor was
also chosen to attend.
In introducing us to their
final-year MBA students, Prof Andre
van der Merwe said that Tony and I
were exceptionally good marketing
men. He emphasised that neither of
us had had a formal education. This
Serious buying going on in Benny’s office with created a great deal of interest and
Michael, Sylvia and Stanley with one supplier
we were bombarded with a lot of
questions which we answered,
illustrating various experiences. Tony and I were presented with black
leather writing pads in appreciation, which I still have today.
In 1980 we had the chutzpah
to go onto national TV with an
advert showing a shuttle landing on
the moon with voices from the
shuttle asking what it was that was
so fascinating south of the Tropic of
Capricorn.
Another astronaut answered
that it was the Benny Goldberg
Liquor Supermarket in
Johannesburg, the largest liquor
store in the world.
The shuttle then zoomed
downwards and in a flash a
motorised camera platform was
zapped down a very long aisle,
creating an illusion of length. This
Our very own astronaut - Benny advert caused a great stir and was
124
the talking point of the time all over South Africa and brought in many more
customers.
Benny Goldberg's Liquor Supermarket
became so much of a talking point that it
became recognised as one of the landmarks of
Johannesburg and a tourist attraction in itself.
When it was decided to launch a minitown as a
fund raising project to raise funds for the South
African National Tuberculosis Association,
SANTA, one of the prominent Johannesburg
landmarks the organisers decided to reproduce
in miniature form was Benny Goldberg's. A
Benny on the bridge overlooking
small scale model of the existing exterior of the the store where he either made
announcements to customers or
building, with all the details has been built. gave instructions to staff
There, alongside historic buildings like
President Kruger's House, the Union Buildings, the Castle of Good Hope,
Groot Constantia, the Rissik Street Post Office
and the Table Mountain Cableway, stands
Benny Goldberg’s!
It attracts many delighted children and
their parents, both tourists and locals. Who
would have thought that a model of my shop
would one day be part of a successful
Santarama Minitown fund raising project and
that the funds collected from the entrance fees
would bring in a considerable amount of money
Fair Lady article by Erica Platter,
to assist with the fight against tuberculosis. “The Workaholic”
In December 1981 Erica Platter, a

journalist, approached us with a view to spending a day with Sylvia in order
to see what made her tick. She arrived at our home bright and early and
joined us for breakfast at 7am. Well fortified, we left for the store where she
made herself comfortable on the couch in Sylvia’s office, ready to listen,
look and take note of all the happenings as they occurred.
She made copious notes and at about 3.30 that afternoon she came
to me and begged to be taken home as she was just too exhausted to carry
125
on. She said that she was worn out and her head was buzzing from all the
activity she had seen. She was absolutely amazed at the way Sylvia, much
older than her, was able to multitask and cope with all the demands made on
her, notwithstanding the interruptions by telephone calls and staff queries.
Shortly afterwards an article entitled “Who is Sylvia?” appeared in the
magazine Fair Lady.
Erica’s husband, John was a wine connoisseur who was well known for
his articles on wine. When he published his first wine guide I placed an initial
order for a thousand books. He was totally bowled over but I instinctively
knew that they would be snapped up quickly and how right I was. The book
fitted easily into a pocket or a handbag, and became, and still is, the
reference book for customers wanting to check on John’s ratings.
His second book was an even greater hit and again I was first in with a
massive order, which, as before, sold just as soon as stock hit the shelves.
For well over twenty-five years this book, an annually updated reference,
has become the “bible of the wine industry” and no self-respecting wine
lover would be without Platter’s guide.
A different interviewer was Jani Allan, a well-known journalist and
feature writer for the Sunday Times, who concentrated on business leaders
and whose articles became a talking point each weekend. She was a very
bright woman who quickly summed up what my family and I were like, and
in her article, which appeared on January 3, 1982, she described me as a
Mega Mensch and concluded the article by stating:
“You don’t need road-manners if you are a ten-ton truck. But Benny
has them. It is clear that their home is filled with a rare warmth, love
and respect. He is a very special kind of man and I can only come up
with a slight variation of a description that has been given to him
before:
Benny Goldberg is a Mega-Mensch!”
Jani also included this interview in a book of her interviews which she
published called Face Value.
There was much amusement at an article that appeared in Finance
Week, September 1985.
At a lunch of stockbrokers, attended by Max Pollak the other day, a
126
London guest was having it explained how complex were Sa’s cultural
divisions. It wasn’t only a black/white situation, he was told, but
within the black community there were many tribal differences and
allegiances.
Whereupon the London guest asked the two black waiters in
attendance about their affiliations. Said the one:
“Me, I’m a Zulu. My chief is Gatsha Buthelezi”.
Responded the other:
“Me, I’m from Alexandra. My chief is Benny Goldberg”.
Finance Week
September 1985
In February 1982, an article entitled “Who is Sylvia?” By Jane Fraser

appeared in Style Magazine.
As Jane Fraser said in her article:
In moments of relaxation, they resort to a “Mr Gee” and “Mrs Gee”,
but that’s as far towards familiarity as Sylvia will lean.
Said Sylvia: “How would it sound for me to come over on the intercom
and shout, “Hey! Doll! The trucks are here!’ It wouldn’t do at all.
Sylvia has an almost unnatural photographic memory. This is the
secret of the Goldberg’s success. Sylvia’s incredible memory and eye for
detail and Benny’s consummate ability in the marketing field.
127
generous donation
128
Chapter 15
King of Liquor and Queen of Wine
Life has moved on. We have been officially out of the bottle store for
twenty-five years. We have been blessed with two grandsons, namely
Bradley, who arrived during the Rand Daily Mail wine festival in 1978 and
David who arrived in 1981, the year before we sold the business, while we
were in Hawaii attending a Wine and Spirit Guild Convention, Sylvia has
always been surrounded by her five boys, I think she is hoping to have a few
great- granddaughters that she can enjoy doing girlie-things with.
In 1987, Stanley and Beverlee, Bradley and David moved to
Australia. Then Mark moved to Cape Town. He had moved to a bigger
advertising agency in Johannesburg and worked on different accounts and
then later became a partner with three other people in a newly formed
agency. After spending a few years in this industry, he got tired of the
deadlines and pressures and took a break for a three-month management
course in Cape Town.
He quickly realised what a great life style
Cape Town had to offer, and decided to move
down there permanently. At first he worked in
the fashion world selling textile designs, via his
friend Stan Lurie, whose late father Mike Lurie
had been my good friend. Then, while looking
for a place to live, he decided to renovate an old
house, and ended up on completion, getting a
very high offer for it. As a result, he later
teamed up with Shirley Kaplan Interior Designs
and started working with Shirley, her husband
Syd, and later Benji Kotlowitz, an architect who
became their son-in-law. They bought, rebuilt
David, age 2
and sold properties together, and to this day
they remain very dear friends. Sadly, Sydney Kaplan passed away very
suddenly in January 2007. Mark has been involved in several businesses
since of property development, consumer marketing and electronic media
129
and still lives happily in Cape Town.

We decided to move down to
Cape Town so that I could stay
much longer in my beloved
Muizenberg. We were fortunate in
1981 to purchase an apartment in
what was to me the most wonderful
place on this earth - Muizenberg, a
short drive from the centre of Cape
Cruising the Mediterranean Sea and loving it Town. Finance Week once quoted
me as saying that my apartment at
the coast was called the “cloisters”;
because I lived cloise to the beach,
cloise to the Shul and cloise to the
shops.
Muizenberg has the most
unbelievable beach and is well
known for having the best and
safest bathing. While I was there I
regarded myself as being fortunate
Benny’s box - No 15 Surfers Beach about to
enjoy his daily pleasure with swimming buddies. to be able to swim every day, no
This was Benny’s beach residence where friends matter how cold or rainy it was and I
passed by to say hello
pushed to stay for six months each
year. The temperature of the water
did not bother me. For the past 20
years I have always swum at 8:30
am. This exercise was wonderful for
me, not only physically but mentally
too, and I was then ready to face the
day joyfully. We were fortunate over
the years to develop a regular
Swimming Club, who all met in our
apartment and then we walked as a
group down to the beach. This was
Proud Benny with his sons and grandsons the highlight of the day for most of
130
the “Club Members”. So much that in

memory of the passing of Roseline
Shapiro in 2006, a bench was erected at
Dalebrook Beach, close to Muizenberg,
with a plaque stating:
“In memory of Roseline Shapiro
from the Cinnabar 8:30am
Swimming Club”
I continued my daily swimming
from 1981 right up until early 2007 but
when the water turned cold during
April/May, I would go into the sea as Swimming Club breakfast after 8:30am
swim. Fun being had by, from left, Benny,
Benny Goldberg and come out as Sylvia Bradley, Sylvia & dear Roseline Shapiro
Goldberg! This expression of mine
caused much laughter amongst many people.
Even in Muizenberg we maintained our
interest in wines, and being so close to such
breathtaking areas of the Winelands, we
continued to be in touch with quite a few of the
estates. We were always invited to attend the
annual Nederburg Wine Auction. They never
forgot that our charity bids had always been
tops and great publicity for the actual
Nederburg Auction. Obviously our purchases
had contributed to a substantial percentage of
the entire auction. At this annual function, Benny with “swimming carer”
Tyson. Brad named Tyson
Sylvia and I were received so warmly by so
“Benny’s personal valet”
many different people - by wholesale liquor
companies, estates, co- ops, the Wine
Magazine publications, Masters of Wine, and everyone connected with the
trade – and they always had an anecdote to share about their experiences
with the Goldbergs.
Not only had we been instrumental in introducing South African wines
onto Johannesburg tables and in introducing overseas wines to the South
African palate, we were also involved in getting South African wines into the
131
overseas market. Our involvement with the Swedish market happened quite
fortuitously.
We had known a Swedish lady, for some time. She and her family had,
like us, a holiday apartment in Muizenberg. She had met her husband in
London and subsequently relocated
to South Africa. We were unaware
that her brother, Bertil Nejman lives
in Göteborg, Sweden, where he is
part of a large liquor business
specialising in selling imported
wines to the sophisticated Swedish
market, particularly French, Italian
Mark joins Benny and Sylvia at the Nederburg and Portuguese wines.
Auction, after they had already retired
In 1990 Bertil asked his sister
if she knew anyone in the wine industry in South Africa. She said that she
knew the perfect people to whom to speak, Benny and Sylvia Goldberg. (By
that stage we had sold Benny Goldbergs.)
She questioned Sylvia about whether she could help to get South
African wines exported to Sweden.
Sylvia used to be very involved in
exporting local wine, but as
apartheid-induced sanctions began
to bite harder, it became very
difficult to do so as most European
countries would not allow any South
African wine into their country.
Sweden in particular was a virulent
opponent of apartheid. On the
Michael and Janice Fridjhon join the Goldbergs at strength of her discussion with
the Nederburg Auction
Sylvia, her brother, Bertil, came out
on a visit to Cape Town the following
year and, with his sister acting as his interpreter, we took them on a tour of
numerous wine estates.
“This was the first time that I had the pleasure of meeting so many
fine gentlemen in the wine industry", said Bertil, "As soon as we arrived at
132
the first estate, I knew that I was extremely fortunate to be in the company
of the Goldbergs as it was so obvious that this couple was held in high
esteem by everyone in the wine industry. This was expressed very well the
first time we met Mr. Spatz Sperling of Delheim Wines.
"We met over coffee and cake at the delightful coffee shop in
Stellenbosch called Oom Samie se Winkel. Spatz remarked that if he
supplied me with wines for Sweden, he would not need any trade references
because I was a friend of the Goldbergs, whom at that stage had been his
friends and most worthwhile customers for well over 35 years. I described to
him in detail our customer base and the sort of wines we stocked. Spatz, in
his inimitable way, with his unique sense of humour, kept moaning about the
fact that he would have to pick up the bill for the coffee and cakes the girls
had ordered. As the warm conversation continued, the next thing we knew
Spatz had ordered champagne. After we had
finished off two bottles, we seemed to know
each other very much better, and naturally
Spatz insisted that this was his treat."
At that time Bertil’s brother-in-law held
a senior position at Volvo in Göteborg. Bertil
told his family of what he considered to be his
good fortune in making instant contacts
through us. His brother-in-law mentioned to
his South African agent in the motor industry,
who happened to be in the company office at
that time, that Bertil was interested in Mis South Africa, Amy Kleynhans,
importing wines from South Africa. The South with her arm around a coy Benny
African gentleman made him promise to get his

brother-in-law to phone him at his hotel that very evening, as he knew the
ONLY people in South Africa with whom he should be dealing. As Bertil’s
brother-in-law was so insistent, Bertil out of courtesy duly called that very
evening and introduced himself. The South African explicitly told him "You
must deal with experts!"
Bertil replied very meekly that he was dealing with the "Family
Goldberg". For a few seconds, there was a dead silence on the phone.
133
“Those were the very people I was going to recommend to

you”, said the stunned South African motor agent sitting thousands of miles
away in cold and snowy Göteborg.
Bertil Nejman made a point of returning the following year, this time
without his sister to interpret.
“I had to try and speak the very best English I could," Bertil
reminisced. " During my trips on the road with Sylvia making conversation
was very difficult because of the language barrier. Whilst we were driving
one day, Sylvia switched on a radio-tape. Frank Sinatra was singing, and,
“guess what?”, apart from wine, we had found another common interest.
Being of a similar age group I, like Sylvia, knew all the English words to any
Frank Sinatra song. So there we were, travelling on the country roads in a
Swedish Volvo, singing merrily to all the Frank Sinatra tunes. I could not
believe my good fortune in finding a lady of Sylvia’s stature who was so
knowledgeable, not only about Sinatra and about wines, but who also
understood how to ship wines from various estates in one container, and
with her astute costing ability, she made quite sure that every possible
space in the container was used to bring down the cost of the shipment,
which was quite costly because of the distance."
Bertil had to explain to the wine estate owners that in Sweden all the
wines that were sold went through a "Systembolaget" or the Government
Monopoly. Some of them were familiar with this system. Sylvia then
introduced him to Michael Fridjhon, who made suggestions to him which
wines he might consider purchasing and described the quality and
popularity of some of South Africa’s top wines. As Sweden is a very cold
country the preferred wine is a good red.
At the beginning of 1993, Denmark lifted its sanctions against South
Africa and Bertil returned to South Africa. This time we took him off to Neil
Ellis of Neil Ellis Wines, Jan Boland Coetzee of Vriesenhof, and Charles Back
of Fairview Wines. He placed an order for a full container to be shipped. He
was taking a chance because he knew that sanctions in Sweden had not yet
been lifted.
" I went back to Sweden”, said Bertil, " knowing that I had left all the
business and shipping details to be handled by this amazing efficient,
Sylvia. How fortunate for me that whilst the wines were on the water,
134
sanctions against South Africa were lifted! I am proud to say that my

company and I were the first people to bring South African wines into
Sweden. “Right from the day it landed, there was great interest from top
restaurants and hotels in these wines. Then the ‘Monopoly’ placed an order
for the first South African wines to be stocked in their numerous government
stores. “
Through us Bertil then met other people in the wine industry, namely
Dave Johnson, whose wines, Cape Bay, he succeeded in listing on the
Monopoly, as he did with boutique wines from Buitenverwachting who made
a superb wine called Christine. Business then continued on a regular basis,
and Sylvia was kept busy liasing with the estates, trying to find the quantity
he wanted of each of their superior wines and getting these shipped as soon
as possible. Once the estates realised that Bertil Nejman really meant
business on his annual visit with Sylvia and Benny to each estate, certain
wines were allocated there and then for Sweden which gave us a certain
peace of mind for that coming year.
In 1999, Bertil hosted the SAS airline wine club members,
approximately 30 in total, including the head of the Monopoly, who
happened to be a member of the club. This time Sylvia assisted him to
arrange a tour for them to the Cape. Bertil’s boss, Hendrik Dunge,
accompanied him. By then Bertil was far more fluent in English and was able
to find his way around the winelands of the Cape.
As far as Bertil and Hendrik were concerned, the biggest love in their
lives, apart from their wives and their wines, was golf. For them to be
playing in superb sunshine knowing that Sweden was snow bound and
below freezing, made their game of golf that much more enjoyable, and
they were thrilled to be able to show off their newly acquired suntans once
back in Sweden. They quite often achieved a red colour, a painful step on the
path to what they hoped would be a golden brown tan by the time they were
home. Naturally they played a lot of golf with their new-found friends in the
wine industry and had a most enjoyable time.
During a visit with the Swedish Airline, known as SAS, Wine Club tour,
Hendrik Dunge turned to Sylvia at a luncheon held at Delheim Estate and
said, to her surprise, "Could you please try and find us a house to buy in
Stellenbosch, as moving from one B & B to the next and trying to find
135
bookings is becoming an
inconvenience."
Sylvia had absolutely NO
experience in household properties,
as we had been fortunate to live in
one house for the first 35 years of
our marriage, and then moved into
an apartment. Fortunately, with
Mark's property experience, we
Executive Magazine article showing Benny and
Sylvia in so-called “retirement” in Muizenberg started a search. Any excuse for us
to explore the Winelands brought us
great pleasure.
By April 1999, we had found them a
delightful home in Franschhoek that we
simply loved. It was a guesthouse with six
bedrooms, all beautifully furnished. Thanks
to the age of internet, whilst we were
viewing the house in Franschhoek, Hendrik
and Bertil could view the pictures on their
computers in Sweden. Hendrik agreed that
the house was very beautiful, but decided
that the distance from Franschhoek to Cape
Town was too great and Stellenbosch was
where his heart was.
Lunch in Stellenbosch with Mark
The following month Mark heard
about a home in Stellenbosch. As
soon as Sylvia walked in, she knew
she had found exactly what the
Swedes were looking for. Once
again, the e-mails went back and
forth and very shortly afterwards
Bertil travelled to the Cape to
confirm the deal. Since 2000, they
have had the pleasure of owning
Benny being showered with gifts on his birthday,
this guest-house, which has quite a
enjoying every moment of it
136
steady clientele and someone to look after the house all year long.
When it was Sylvia’s 70th birthday, the Swedish group were there at
the Nederburg estate to celebrate with us and, in true Swedish style, the
four Swedes stood up and sang ‘Happy Birthday’ and a special tribute in
Swedish to "their" Sylvia.
In 1997, Sylvia went to Sweden, whilst in Europe, on her own, first to
Göteborg, and later Sylvia, Bertil and his wife Anne motored to Stockholm to
celebrate the 75th birthday of Arne, his sister Ruth’s husband. This time
Sylvia also met his South African sister in Sweden, not Muizenberg. After
spending a few days in Stockholm, Sylvia returned to South Africa, but was
given strict instructions from Bertil that she had to wander around the duty-
free liquor store at the airport before leaving. To her utter amazement, in
the imported wine section she found a "South African wine area" and was
totally moved to tears when to her delight, she found that the eight South
African wines on display were all part of the wines that she had shipped to
Sweden.
Two years later, whilst in Europe, both Sylvia and I went to Sweden,
but only visited Stockholm. Bertil, Ruth and Arne treated us with warm
hospitality and Bertil arranged for the four of us and himself to go to a
special restaurant on a cobbled road that was closed to motor vehicles. He
had booked a taxi to drop us at the nearest point.
“Unbeknown to me", said Bertil, "the
Goldbergs had decided that our warm
hospitality had exceeded anything they could
have dreamt of, and shortly after entering the
restaurant, Sylvia excused herself, presumably
to go to the ladies, during which time she made
arrangements for the Goldbergs to settle the
bill. I suggested that we look at the wine list
and that the Goldbergs could choose the wines
for the evening and then they could take our
recommendations for fine Swedish food. The
wine list included quite a few South African
wines.
Sylvia’s 70th birthday
137
The prices in
Swedish Krone were
high, and with Sylvia’s
quick brain, she realised
that each bottle of South
African wine would cost
at least R700 per bottle.
She subtly suggested
that they could have
South African wines at
Bertil Neijman with us

home, and she chose a
Chilean wine at a far, far
lower price.
I naturally respected her
request, and after a good evening
was had by all, I was simply stunned
when I called for the bill and was
told that it had already been settled.
"I would like to end my story
with a personal message to Sylvia.
“Sylvia, I know that no one in
the whole world would do
Benny doing his morning prayers in what you have done for me,
Johannesburg
for which I sincerely thank
you. What a privilege and
pleasure it has been for me to
know the King of Liquor in
South Africa, and my
personal business
experiences with the Queen
of Wine. Thank you, Sylvia. I
salute you”.
" Bertil was not aware of the
connection between a real Swedish
Bradley, David and Benny at Brad’s Barmitzah in Queen and South African liquor.
1991 in Sidney, Australia
138
Josephine’s mill (built 1840) and

named after a Swedish queen is
now a museum attached to the malt
house of the Mariendahl Brewery
established by the Swede Jacob
Letterstedt in Newlands, Cape
Town, in 1822. Over the years this
Swedish brewery has been
absorbed into the giant South
Tall, dark and handsome: the two Goldberg
African Breweries in Newlands, grandsons in 2006
which still uses the same spring to
make its beer. To be truthful, Sylvia
would rather be known as a queen
of wine than a queen of beer.
We enjoyed making new
Swedish friends, but we sorely
missed our Australian family and
tried to keep in contact and visited
as often as we could. It was good to
be called King of Liquor and Queen
1998: Cinnabar couch. Standing: Hazel, Mark,
of Wine by Bertil, but it was even Sylvia & Stanley. Confortable on the couch:
David, Brett, Benny & Bradley
better to be called Grandpa and
Grandma by Bradley and David.
Naturally we were there to celebrate Bradley’s barmitzvah in 1991 and
David’s barmitzvah in 1994. These events were a great source of pride to
both of us and to this day we are not
quite sure how we managed to
produce such tall offspring, both our
sons and grandsons.
In 1998, Stanley returned to
South Africa, followed shortly
afterwards by David. After his
return Stanley became a strictly
observant Jewish man observing
the sabbath and sporting a long David’s Barmitzvah
139
black beard, now slightly grey. Fortunately for us, Bradley travels to South
Africa frequently, not only to see his father and brother, but also of course
his grandparents.
We are so happy to have rare occasions when the five Goldberg men
can be together, but our conversation is no longer devoted to liquor. One of
these occasions was my second barmitzvah, which took place on the 20th of
July 2002, and most recently for the Jewish New Year in 2006 and Passover
in 2007. Fortunately, with e-mail, Skype and telephone calls, we are able to
keep close contact with Bradley in Australia and David in Plettenberg Bay,
Stanley wishing his parents a fond, sad farewell Stanley with his two sons at David’s
on their departure after David’s barmitzah in barmitzah
Sydney, Australia in 1994
David’s Barmitzah
140
David’s barmitzah 1994: Ben, Sylvia, David, Brad and Mark
Stanley and Mark with Benny at his second barmitzah
141
Bradley’s comments on his grandfather which appeared in the Sunday

Times issue of 26 September 1982
142
Chapter 16
A toast to my customers and friends
I have been blessed with many good friends and my life in the liquor
business has given me some wonderful memories and I have touched some
lives.
I was moved by an appreciation that our friend Kevin Hedderwick sent
us in which he mentioned that even though his career had taken him out of
the liquor business we have always stayed in touch. He wrote that he
regretted that the Benny Goldberg landmark in Louis Botha Avenue had
ceased to exist and said:
" I count myself privileged and blessed to have been associated

during my life with this giant of a man and his remarkable wife Sylvia.
In more recent times as my professional life has developed they have
always found time to drop me a line saying how proud they are of me.
If only they knew how proud I am to make them feel proud of a young
Sales Manager who during his early career years passed through their
hands.
Over the years Mr and Mrs G, as they have become affectionately
known to me, have become friends of my family. They will always
have a very special place in my heart and I will always regard myself
as having been better off because of my long and special relationship
with this amazing couple.
God bless you both Benny and Sylvia.”
Kevin said that when he arrived on the Reef in 1980 just the sheer
mention of the name Benny Goldberg , used to instil fear in the hearts of
many of the liquor salesmen. When he got to know me better he decided I
was an absolute 'pussycat'. Sunday Times called me a Mega-Mensch, but
whatever I am called, I am a sucker when it comes to helping people in
need. I find it difficult to turn people away if the cause is genuine.
143
Thus it was that when Sid Melman, the PRO for the Glenoaks Lions
Club, asked me to implode the cooling towers of a power station – legally - I
agreed. He had had the brainwave of trying to get money for charity out of
this act of demolition and had approached the Johannesburg City Council for
permission to allow a non-official to “push the button” and pay for the
privilege.
It appealed to my sense of fun and nonconformity. After all, how
many people are able to blow up a building that was known either as a
concrete monstrosity or as a valuable relic of Johannesburg (depending, of
course, on which side was
presenting the argument for the
preservation of the Newtown
Cooling Towers)?
The cherry on the top was
that the money I was donating for
the privilege of changing the skyline
of downtown Johannesburg forever
Benny, having pushed the lever, watches the would go towards two of the
Newtown towers crumble
Glenoaks projects – their Operation
Bright Sight which manufactured
and donated spectacles to the needy and the Alexandra Old Age Home.
Vision and the aged - two very needy causes. I was glad to help. Whether or
not one agreed with those implosions, at least this time some very needy
people were able to benefit and that in itself made it worthwhile.
So, one Sunday morning we assembled on the roof of the municipal
housing department’s building with a number of dignitaries. They were
there to watch the demise of two of the Newtown Cooling towers. I was
there to do the job. Just a little turn of a handle and those huge structures
were demolished. It gave me a sense of awe. Fifty years previously it had
taken many labourers 128 weeks and much effort to erect those two towers
and that Sunday it took 12 seconds for them to collapse. I watched as the
buildings staggered, sagged and crumbled to the ground.
I was not the only one. Hundreds of mums, dads and small children
were also watching, as well as camera-carrying lovers of spectacle. After the
dust had settled on the destruction of one of Johannesburg’s historical
144
landmarks, the crowd clapped and we dignitaries on the roof settled down to
mark the event with champagne and smoked salmon.
Ironically it cost more to have the towers imploded and the rubble
removed than it took to build them fifty years previously. This event was
screened that evening on the main SABC Evening News. Naturally, we
recorded this programme. What fun this was for our grandsons, Bradley
and David. They watched the implosion and collapse of the towers with
fascination, and then they rewound the tape to watch the towers erect
themselves again in slow motion. This gave them hours of pleasure!
One of the well known slogans of the store
145
In another vein, I felt it a privilege to be the recipient of an ode written

for me by a liquor friend. Not many liquor dealers have poems dedicated to
them.
ODE TO BENNY GOLDBERG
Way, way back many eras ago

Not long after discounts began
Big "B" dwelt in the town of Jo'burg
A fine example of a business man.
Ably assisted by Sylvia, his wife

They said this booze business must get a life.
Together they built the biggest store
That held the whole wide world in awe.
Traders came from all over

Paying homage to Benny's name
And BG told them his conditions,
Discounts, deals and double commissions.
Buyers arrived from near and far

By train, by plane or in their cars
Buy in bulk - get one free
Great times at Goldberg's jamboree.
The business grew, and grew, and grew

It became too big - the Goldbergs knew
So they sold out to some clever masters
With obvious results – disasters
146
I remember, in 1999, I was the recipient of another poem this one

composed by another Sylvia, my sister-in-law and my brother Hilly for my
80th birthday. Having left school early, I am not prepared to propound on the
poetic merits of either, but here it is.
We are pleased to announce

That Benny has made it
Although in fits and starts
Because it is not all purely Benny
But a collection of spare parts
Never satisfied with saying please

He always had to go down on his knees
So wear and tear took their toll
But it also helped to improve his soul
The teeth were to fly away

So they had to be buttoned down
For him to be able to have his say
He is one up on having one kidney

The rest of us are obliged to have two
But as a person he is unique
For fun and laughter and some cheek
He had to share himself between

The Cape and Gauteng to be seen
To be fair to the home and the holiday scene
Big boy Benny we love you still
For you are top of the pops and top of the bill
147
The kidney was removed in 1969. When Sylvia had a minor operation
performed at the Brenthurst Clinic in 1970, an elderly night sister walked in
one evening when I was visiting her, and said to me,
"Oh, Mr Goldberg! I am so happy to see you alive! Last year when you
had your kidney removed, we thought we were losing you."
I was delighted to prove that they were wrong and I am with G-d's
help still alive and will soon turn 88.
From walking on my knees, which always brought much laughter, I
eventually had to pay the price and have had two knee replacements.
Unfortunately, dental implants were not meant for me and I
eventually gave up on them.
I would like to propose a toast to my customers and friends –
LE’CHAYIM – To LIFE!!!
Insert of a youthful Benny
148
Chapter 17
The end of a legend
Benny’s ambition was to write his memoirs and he started doing so in

about 2004. He proudly announced to his family and friends that he was
writing his life story and that he would make sure that they received a copy
of his book. We had both decided that the book would not be for general
publication but would just be for our nearest and dearest.
After giving most of the facts, he left the “embroidery” and editing of
the book to me. He constantly wanted to know when the book would be
completed, and in July 2007 I was happy to be able to show him a nearly
completed version. Being impetuous, as is well known, Benny had already
compiled a list, in his head, of well over 100 people to whom he wanted to
present this book.
I have tried my very best to do this and sincerely hope that this is the
way that Benny would have liked to see the completion.
Benny spoke about his ambition to spend his 90th birthday in
Muizenberg and was planning to hold a special lunch on his birthday at the
Muizenberg Shul. Naturally a swim in the sea formed part of the celebration
he planned for that day
Each year towards the end of May as our departure from Muizenberg
began to draw near, Benny would constantly say that he would love to stay
in Cape Town all the year, but that it was “his wife” who made him go back to
Johannesburg. He loved teasing me.
During the last two years of his life, Benny’s mischievousness
remained. Apart from his love for his entire family, the most important items
in his life became his cigars, a little alcohol and annoying me by NEVER
wearing socks, not even if he was quite formally dressed.
One of his antics was that as soon as I popped out to do some
shopping, he would quickly pick up the phone to Stanley and Mark, like a
naughty boy, reporting to them that as I was not at home, he could merrily
smoke ANYWHERE inside the apartment, knowing full well that I would pick
up the smell as soon as I returned! He always reported his dress attire for
149
the day, which was normally shorts and a T-shirt, and for “formal” wear, a
tracksuit. Benny remained a non-conformist in every way until the very end.
In 2007, Benny, who had deteriorated visibly and was not swimming
as much as usual had started complaining of dizziness. After trying
numerous medications for dizziness there was no improvement and he went
for medical check-ups to his dermatologist and his “guru” and most
respected, specialist physician pulmonologist who had years ago fondly
summed up Benny in two words “Geriatric hooligan”. This name was very
apt. This physician wrote to me, after Benny’s demise, to tell me that he had
noticed a vast deterioration at the end of May 2007, and that he knew the
end was near as “the body was tired”. He agreed that Benny was well
enough to travel back to Johannesburg and wished him well, and, as always,
begged him ONLY to cut down on his cigar smoking – NEVER to give it up, as
he was not prepared to take away one of Benny’s great pleasures.
On Sunday the 10th of June we returned to Johannesburg and went to
see our local GP, a brilliant diagnostician. He felt there was nothing he could
possibly do about the dizziness and recommended that Benny see a
cardiologist. On Friday the 6th of July we saw the cardiologist who was
extremely friendly as he had known and respected Benny’s late brother
Max, who was the medical TB Officer of Johannesburg. After numerous
tests, he said it was amazing that Benny’s heart was as strong as the heart
of a much younger person. As there was certainly no blockage, he
suggested that we see an ENT surgeon who might just find that the cause of
the dizziness lay in the semicircular canals in his ears.
On Sunday the 8th of July, we had a fun breakfast at Sandton City with
our dear friends of so many years. On Monday the 9th of July, we managed to
get an appointment with the recommended ENT surgeon, who after a
thorough examination, assured Benny that he had a cure for his dizziness.
As we were leaving the clinic, I called Mark, who had arrived in
Johannesburg an hour earlier, and told him the good news that the dizziness
would probably disappear. This was our celebration afternoon. I mentioned
that the doctor had given Benny a script and we decided to meet Mark at a
coffee shop that Benny liked in the Killarney shopping centre, and I would
collect the prescribed medication from the nearby chemist.
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The end of a legend
Mark and I ordered waffles and cappuccino and our Benny naturally
went for his most favourite food which was a hamburger, chips and Coca
Cola. We all felt very optimistic and were enjoying this outing. Mark went
off to do some shopping in the centre, I went off to the chemist, and Benny
was left sitting at the table still finishing his food.
When I returned, Benny was half way through his second Coca Cola
and had already paid the bill, but he did not look well. I suggested that we go
home and, as one of the waiters was helping me, to assist him from his chair,
I noticed that his left leg was sliding and realised immediately that
something was wrong. With the kind assistance of the staff, I put him back
onto the chair and saw that his left hand was also clenched.
I immediately phoned Mark who returned in less than a minute and we
were able to contact our own General Practitioner on his cell as the time was
now after 5pm. What a boon cellphones are!
We are truly fortunate in Johannesburg to have an organisation called
Hatzolah, which is a voluntary ambulance service renowned for its speed
and efficiency. Because of bad peak hour traffic, it took Hatzolah about ten
minutes to arrive and they then went into action with great efficiency. I
travelled with Benny in the ambulance, with the siren going, Mark following
behind in the car.
During this ride, the dedicated band of young men were checking his
vital signs all the time and relaying the information to the emergency
section of the clinic we were going to, while Benny continued to answer the
questions put to him. Fortunately, our GP was also in contact with the clinic.
On arrival the young Hatzolah men rushed Benny straight through to
the X-ray department where a brain scan was performed, after hours, and
such was the efficiency between them and Mark, that within three quarters
of an hour after the incident, Benny was in a bed in the ICU. The neurologist
on duty confirmed that Benny had had a slight stroke and that the prognosis
for a complete recovery was good. Whilst Benny was being made
comfortable, I went down to the Admissions Desk to fill in the necessary
paperwork, leaving Mark with Benny in ICU. I was then informed that only
Mark and I would be allowed to visit him during visiting hours only - between
7 and 8 pm.
151
When we returned at 7pm, we found Benny as cheerful as could be

and he was comforted that at least he had his plastic cigar holder which had
a vial of nicotine in it. Benny told us that he had had a minor stroke and
would be fine.
The next morning, he was moved to a private ward and after
requesting that I bring him another cigar holder, he was perfectly relaxed
and chatted to us and to the staff and doctors. By that afternoon he found
that he could easily move his “lame” leg, which was a very encouraging sign
for a complete recovery.
Coincidentally, Bradley, who had been in Spain on business, had
arranged to return to Australia via South Africa. He arrived the day after the
stroke and spent a lot of quality time with his beloved grandfather in the
hospital, often arriving as early as 7:30am and Stanley and David came up
from Plettenberg Bay.
Stanley, Mark and I met with the rehabilitation team, consisting of a
physiotherapist, an occupational therapist and a speech therapist, who
assured us that recovery would be complete in about twelve weeks. Stanley
then returned to Plettenberg Bay feeling a little more relaxed, and Bradley
had to return to Australia.
In his normal way, Benny soon endeared himself to most of the staff
and they were fascinated that this little man with so much humour was in
fact THE Benny Goldberg. They had all heard of him. The site of the store
was a landmark, referred to as the Benny Goldberg Corner and they had
grown up thinking he was a legend.
Even though there was always a nurse in attendance, I spent at least
12 hours a day attending to his needs. Mark and grandson David were
always there or on call, particularly to drive me home at night.
As Benny’s 88th birthday would be falling on July the 24th, and as we
realised that he would still be in hospital, we started planning what simple
things we could do to make his birthday special. By this stage, Benny had
become rather quiet and was being fed intravenously.
The night nurse on duty on the 23rd vows that at a minute before
midnight, she heard a gruff voice (due to the pipes) saying:
“Happy birthday to me”.
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The end of a legend
She switched on the lights to make sure she wasn’t dreaming! Benny
was wide-awake and had actually sung his celebratory song. The next
morning, we put balloons and HAPPY BIRTHDAY signs in the ward, we had a
party for the nursing staff, and many calls and some gifts were received.
However, Benny remained silent all the time.
The following day after tests were completed, it was established that
there had been complications. There had been an infection and Benny had
gone into renal failure very quickly. He was immediately transferred once
more to ICU where he remained on dialysis for 12 days, with no change to
his condition whatsoever. During this time, our Rabbis visited him and
prayers were constantly said. Benny’s heart remained strong right to the
very end, and the family all knew that Benny would decide when it was time
for him to go. The family had all spent private time saying their own personal
goodbyes.
Rabbi Aharon Rose of Waverley Shul spoke at Benny’s funeral. He sent
the family the eulogy he made but emphasised that as his words had came
from his heart, he could not remember everything he said.
Mark and Stanley felt that Rabbi Rose’s eulogy made it seem that
Benny was there smiling down on all of us. There was a smile on most
people’s faces, very unusual for such a sad occasion. Knowing and loving the
man as we all did this was a typical Benny event, everyone smiling at him.
Benny Goldberg was literally ‘larger than life’. His name became
a company, then it became a concept. But it wasn’t just Benny,
as the name might have you think. It was Benny and Sylvia,
working together and going home together.
Their marriage wasn’t just from 5 to 9 – it was 24 hours a day. So
their 54 years together were more like 108 years of marriage for
the rest of us! They forged a wonderful partnership; Sylvia
providing the grounded and stable influence that enabled
Benny, well, to be Benny; to be ‘out there’ coming up with new
ideas, creating.
But Benny was more than just Sylvia’s life-partner; he was a
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loving, caring and demonstrative husband. Benny was also a

loving father; loyal, approachable and a best friend. He was
always involved and wanted the best for Stanley and Mark. As
his boys would say: “If I can be 10% of the father he was…”
Benny adored his grandchildren Bradley and David; he was kind
and loving, in fact, he spoiled them, yet he taught them solid
values.
Benny had a unique sense of humour – in pain and with his world
narrowed to that of his hospital room, Benny looked at one of his
nurses and commented on her hairdo, asking her if she was
aware that she had a flower pot on her head. Only Benny could
say such things without any trace of nastiness, bringing a smile
to the listener’s face and brightening one’s day.
Benny endeared himself to everybody and connected with
people because of his wonderful sense of humour. Benny never
judged people by sex, age or colour and earned everyone’s
respect because he respected them. In time we came to view
Benny as a father or grandfather and therefore Sylvia was our
mom or grandmom.
Benny has been described as the doyen of the South African
liquor industry; he was the first to do so many things! He was
the first to import kosher wines to South Africa. He opened the
first liquor supermarket in South Africa.
Even after 25 years out of business, “Benny Goldbergs” remains
a Johannesburg landmark; people will direct you to travel via a
supermarket that doesn’t exist any more and hasn’t existed for
years!
Benny taught the ground-breaking idea that the customer is
king; when customers in “Benny Goldberg’s” wanted to find
someone who worked there to help them, it was Benny who
would appear before them, saying, or more importantly
demonstrating, that “I work here”, taking charge, taking
responsibility, taking care.
He was also strong willed, impetuous and impulsive; when an
idea formed in his mind he would pursue it no matter what
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The end of a legend
obstacles loomed ahead. With a Standard 6 education, he

eventually lectured final year MBA students at Wits
BusinessSchool.
One of Benny’s great passions was his love for Muizenberg;
swimming in the sea everyday until a couple of months before
he passed away, or just taking a walk on his beloved beach. He
was known as “the Mayor of Muizenberg”.
He derived great pleasure smoking cigars (somehow he even
managed to have one sneaked into hospital after his stroke) and
drinking whisky; he wasn’t exactly a walking advertisement for
a healthy lifestyle…
Benny was a proud Jew, comfortable in any shul, attending
regularly. He gave tzedaka generously and never turned away
meshulachim who asked for assistance. One of the highlights of
his life occurred in 1982 when he went to visit the Lubavitcher
Rebbe in New York with his family. There he was treated like
royalty, and while the Rebbe was addressing some 5,000 people
standing around and in front of him, Benny was invited to sit on
the stage with his two boys near to the Rebbe; a rare honour.
He was loved at his home Shul, Waverley Shul, and much
honoured by them, for he was involved at Waverley until
physical weakness prevented him from attending. He donated a
Sefer Torah to it and donated the first Aron Hakodesh (Ark) to
the Youth Shul. It was no surprise when Benny was invited by
Waverley Shul to lay the stone at the opening of the renovated
Shul.
In the same way, Benny became the Grandfather at Muizenberg
Shul during the six months of each year he and Sylvia spent at
the coast; Benny sat at the main table at every simcha held at
Muizenberg Shul. Perhaps the greatest tribute we can give
Benny is simply to quote The Sunday Times, which referred to
Benny as a “Mega Mensch”.
When Benny passed on, I was overwhelmed by the attendance at the

funeral and prayers daily, as well as the condolences that poured in from all
155
over. I only have vague recollections of some of the people and often ask
my sister if somebody came to our home during that time. I had not realised
how many lives Benny had touched. Benny would be proud to know that
both of his sons, Stanley and Mark, attend Shul every day to say Kaddish.
I am including a few of the messages of condolence I received, firstly
because I found them meaningful and secondly, because they reveal
different insights on Benny’s effect on people.
One of the letters received was from Muizenberg friends who wrote
that they had just heard the news and their first reactions had been that
Muizenberg would now not be the same anymore as far as they were
concerned. They went on to write that each day over the past 30 years on
their walks they had watched Benny swim and had lately seen him being
taken for swims by a gentleman from the car park.
They thought Benny’s love for life was amazing and observed that
even when he could hardly walk he would not be deprived of his love for the
sea in Muizenberg.
They added that “Benny was just a great guy - a man’s man and his
love for you and the kids was special to say the least. We remember him well
and we shall all miss him.”
There were some messages from family and friends who tried to give
me comfort by acknowledging how difficult it would have been for us to have
lived with the consequences of a stroke, like:
“…but Benny with his energy and short fuse, would have hated to be
shackled to a semi-paralysed body and as long as he did not suffer, it was
probably for the best.”
“…We have an enduring memory of a very special lady, whose
devotion, attention and care to her ailing husband was awesome. And we're
very much aware too that it was a particularly difficult labour of love,
especially in Benny's latter years.”
“Our thoughts are with you. Draw comfort from the wonderful
memories you have of all the years you were blessed to share. You can feel
proud of how you stood by him and cared for him through thick and thin.
Syl, you are truly an aish et chayel.”
There were condolences from people who remembered his warmth
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The end of a legend
and humanity like:

“Benny was a real mensch and he made me feel great, even when I
was a little kid."
"It is so hard to imagine a world without Benny. He was so loved by so
many people. I remember when I first met you both. It was love at first
sight and is still like that.”
Some who mentioned “the enormous love that all that had the
privilege of knowing him felt for him.”
“ I feel extremely privileged to have been able to meet such a great
man, and to have been personally involved with both of you in recording his
amazing life.”
“He really was a special personality, and this is borne out by the
enthusiasm with which everyone welcomed him, whether from the Gaboyim
in the Muizenberg shul, or whether purely on the social scene. He just drew
people to him.”
There were those from people who appreciated what he had achieved,
like:
“What he achieved in his life span, with limited education but
unlimited vision, originality, creativity, practicality, drive and guts. Of course
he was blessed to have you behind him and it was a blessed partnership in
every way. It will be difficult for you without him because he was larger than
life.”
“He achieved more in his life span than many ordinary men put
together.”
Some appreciated his talents, like:
“In his own way Benny always had some words of wisdom and,
without forcing the point, he made his thoughts clear.”
“I was always inspired by his tenacity to succeed, great sense of
humour and his love for life and his family."
There were some from people who appreciated Benny’s originality
like:
"Our memories of Benny will be of one of those ‘characters’ that one
comes across so rarely in our lives. “
157
”I have wonderful memories of him at his nuttiest! And we got to go

through all the albums, which took us down the liquor store memory lane. "
There were those messages from people who had worked for him,
like:
"It was a privilege to have known and worked with Benny, he was an
absolute gentleman, always with a smile on his face and just a lovely
person. Sylvia, you will miss him terribly - the two of you were an example to
us all. “
And, “Yes, he was a Mega Mensch and a legend in his lifetime and will
be remembered by all with whom he was in contact both in the business field
on the social side as well.”
I was moved to receive this “Tribute to Benny……AND Sylvia Goldberg”
from Colin Hall who had been responsible for the Beer Division of SA
Breweries from 1969:
“SA Breweries was then far and away the Number 1 Brewing Company
in South Africa and predictably it wasn’t long before I called on my
Number 1 customer – Benny Goldberg’s Bottle Store and met my
match in Sylvia and Benny! SAB vs. S & B. Power versus sheer savvy.
It was a potential battle I had no wish to engage in – so I didn’t.
Instead I got to know and love two remarkable warm straightforward
people who functioned in a partnership that was as loving as it was
formidable.
“On the mezzanine floor of what was then described as “the biggest
bottle store in the world” I learnt so much – how to understand and
treat our biggest customer as a unique customer. And how to treat
the smallest customer as a unique and special customer too. In fact,
how to respect and value and, if possible, love every customer.
“On that floor over Sylvia’s teas and sometimes a drink I learnt that a
word must be a bond – that there was no need for written agreements
because they could be torn to shreds by lawyers, but trust could be
built and built to last. “I learnt that we could reframe any relationship
– even between a huge powerful monopoly and a small struggling
outlet – as a team game in which the ultimate customer is the winner.
Neither SAB nor S & B, but the proud father buying for his daughter’s
wedding, or a thirsty passer-by who needed to recharge his batteries.
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The end of a legend
I left a fascinating challenging career at SAB over 27 years ago and

lost touch with Benny and Sylvia – lost touch maybe but never forgot.
You just can’t! Nor would you want to.”
There were more letters from relatives and friends, not in
Johannesburg.
“I was always proud to tell people I was family of the Goldberg’s, you
know Benny Goldberg from the liquor store.”
“Our Beloved Uncle Benny…was truly a blessing. May he Rest in
Peace.”
“As I look back over the years, I consider myself privileged to say that
I am a friend of the Goldberg/Sacher clan and how fortunate it was to have
spent quality time in your home from time to time.”
“We have lost a wonderful friend whom no one can replace. Benny will
remain in our hearts always. May you draw comfort from the many
wonderful memories you have of Benny.”
“Benny was a gem, a wonderful man. Removing his name from your
e-mail address was not an easy thing to do - it will not remove him from our
minds.”
A niece who lives overseas wrote to me saying:
I know, I know. The funeral and the prayers are going on without me
and I am so sorry not to be there to give you a hug and to thank you
from the bottom of my heart for a life time of laughter, caring, nudging
and loving you gave to our wonderful and quirky Uncle Ben.
I hope that you find happiness and freedom in your life now, and don't
feel lonely too long. You have been the live wire, the brains and the
drive in our little tribe and we admire you so much. Uncle Benny was
so funny, so beloved, and has left behind memories etched forever.
I recall your house in Waverley very clearly. Firstly there was some
kind of tree that had black berry-like fruit on it I thought was amazing.
I recall receiving liquid of any kind in good glasses. I remember Uncle
Benny walking on his knees with a funny voice. He must have been at
eye level for me because it was a bit frightening but I knew he was a
magician with a voice to match the size of the small dynamic man he
became. I recall the boys bouncing on the trampoline. I remember
159
Mrs. Sacher, your mom, making fabulous food, pickled fish, and all the
really good Jewish fishy things I loved. That wonderful trip I took to
Muizenberg where Benny thought it cool that I came out with
stragglers every time I went in the water. I miss you at times like
these.
A second cousin who was compiling a 126-page family tree called
from abroad last year, at the same time as we were writing this book, and we
spent a lot of time rounding up the Goldberg family, children, grandchildren,
great-grandchildren and all their history. This family tree stems from
Benny’s late mother, Rebecca and twin brother, Ben, and in this process,
purely by e-mail, we had a lot of fun and got to know each other. She wrote:
I have no words that can express how truly sorry I was when I heard of
your loss .In doing the family tree, I got to know so many wonderful
people, but the ones that made the greatest impression on me were
you and Benny. I know how much you meant to each other. I am so
grateful that I had the opportunity to learn a little about him. He was
truly a great man and as Jimmy Krikler said in his book “a remarkable
character”. Benny's absence will be felt by many people.
There is an African saying “When an old person dies, it's like a library
has burnt down”, and I think you have done the greatest mitzvah by
writing Benny's life story, so his memory will always live on.”
The major Sunday newspaper, the Sunday Times, carried an obituary

on Sunday, 26th August, written by Chris Barron in which he encapsulated
Benny’s life and contributions. It was entitled:
Benny Goldberg
Owner of world’s largest liquor supermarket
Benny Goldberg, who has died in Johannesburg at the age of 88,
revolutionised liquor retailing in South Africa and created the world’s
largest liquor supermarket. Goldberg was born in Johannesburg on
July 24, 1919 and left school in Standard Six because, quite simply, he
couldn’t see the point of it. He worked as a bottle washer, commercial
traveller, stationery salesman and as a men’s outfitter - and didn't do
particularly well at any of them.
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The end of a legend
When his father, Sam, who was in the hotel business, died suddenly,
Benny helped run Bertram’s Hotel in Johannesburg and decided the
liquor industry was where his future lay. He got his first bottle store
licence at the age of 33 and started his business with a few hundred
pounds.
A year later he made one of his wisest moves when he married his wife
Sylvia. Goldberg was streetwise and obstinate but he had no
arithmetic skills. “If I buy this for 90c and add 10%, can I sell it for less
than a rand?” he once asked a schoolboy doing a stint at his store.
Fortunately Sylvia, who had worked for an auditing firm, did know her
figures, and they made a formidable team. She had a genius for
m a n a g e m e n t a n d
administration while
Goldberg who hated shopping
had a genius for knowing
what customers wanted.
One of the things he knew
they did not want was to
stand in a queue. “If there are
eight checkouts and eight
customers, then there must
also be eight cashiers,” he
said, “I hate queuing. I
Picture of Benny that appeared in the Sunday
couldn’ t expect anyone Times obituary
shopping at my store to wait
unnecessarily.”
He built what he boasted was the longest counter in the country, some
20m long, manned by enough staff so that no customer was kept
waiting. In 1969 he built the country’s first liquor supermarket, named
after himself. He got rid of the counter, introducing self service so that
the customer could browse.
He made his staff wear T-shirts with the words “I WORK HERE”
emblazoned on the back. What he hated about supermarkets, he
explained, was not knowing who to ask about something.
Goldberg blew the whistle on the Witwatersrand Bottle Store Keepers
161
Association for running a price fixing cartel. He also opened the

world’s largest liquor supermarket 8 800m², in 1979, and he and
Sylvia were invited to join the Wine & Spirit Guild of America, the only
non-US retailers to qualify.
In 1982 he sold out to Premier.
Goldberg is survived by two sons and his wife Sylvia.
This Sunday Times article was read by Derek Watts, the presenter of
the prime television programme Carte Blanche, who then mentioned him on
Carte Blanche. This is what Derek said at the end of his recorded
programme:
“I saw in today’s paper that Benny Goldberg had died in Johannesburg
at the age of 88. Many people will remember Benny for revolutionising
the liquor trade in this country. At one stage he owned one of the
world’s biggest bottle stores. He was a wonderful character. I
remember him well in that store.”
(Carte Blanche, Sunday 26th August 2007)
Benny was a wonderful character. He was unique and unforgettable

and most certainly a legend in his time. He will always be remembered with
much love by Stanley, Mark, Bradley, David and I, and every time we either
think of him, or speak of him, we automatically smile.
Our eldest grandson Bradley announced his engagement in Australia
to Yasmin Moddel and we look forward to their marriage in February 2009,
knowing full well that Benny will be celebrating receiving such a lovely
granddaughter and knowing how she has made Bradley so very happy.
Farewell, to my true partner of 54 years. We shared 24 hours a day
together, every day of those 54 years.
I will always love and miss you, my darling Benny.
162
The end of a legend
Photograph by Brett Rubin

The Memoirs of Benny Goldberg

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The Memoirs of Benny Goldberg

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Larger than Life:

A Legend in His Time

The Memoirs of Benny Goldberg

Benny and Sylvia enjoying a night out, always

Benny with Stanley and the two grandsons, Brad

All of us at Wayne and Lauren Goldberg’s

Bob Connolly, Rand Daily Mail's cartoonist, once asked:

This elite group of liquor merchants gave us a very warm welcome

This book is the story behind that visit and

Three Johannesburg mayors and Benny playing golf in the 70s.

I suppose it was inevitable that I should go into the liquor business. I

I presume my father grew up helping his father in the Shadova inn.

To be sick meant to be without an income, but to be admitted to

Mordechai, the son of Eliyakum Getzel Goldberg.

My father Shmuel Michau (Sam), their fourth child, was born in

Whoever was hungry he satisfied.

Meltzer on 7 July 1940 in Berea Shul,

and we shared in each other’s activities. I remember we were still staying in

One unforgettable experience was our first holiday at the seaside. It

Weichardt, an early convert to Nazism. It spread rapidly among young

"FIRSTLY because he cannot be an Englishman or an Africander (sic),

school the following day, I was summoned to the headmaster’s office to

As liquor dealing had been one of the comparatively few occupations

Archie and Olga spent a weekend holiday in Johannesburg on another

Benny and Sylvia in the early days

How fortunate I was to meet

and she arrived beautifully dressed

Sylvia’s first sea-side holiday in Durban, flanked

Isaac and Simon, and two sisters, Dora and

We were married in Johannesburg on the 15th March 1953 at the Great

After my initial shock, I was asked if anything seemed to be missing.

the shop as much as possible.

debacle of suretyship we moved there. It was traumatic "starting" a

Sylvia having another busy day at the office

Traditionally, wine bottles were displayed standing upright on

Mark recalled: “We all worked long hours serving customers - as

finally able to build the King David Gymnasium,

trying to find gifts for Stanley and her own children.

lessons and supplemented my income to the extent that wine buying

a depression, especially in Bordeaux, so the opportunities for me to

contributor to bottom line profitability). I helped in the

crowd of school children who retaliated by throwing stones. The police

unique. There were 5 Goldberg

We then returned to Muizenberg and celebrated a morning tea after

Golden Wedding Anniversary: 15 March 2003

The 5 Goldbergs from left: Cissie, Sylvia, Benny, Hilly,

The Big 5 Goldbergs

Benny having a Le Chaim with Mark at our 50th

Golden Wedding Anniversary: 15 March 2003

We were blessed to have so many good members of staff over a 30-

Today Morry is the group CEO of Redgewoods Pty (Ltd) which

A young woman, who lived in Kew, joined us at Lyndhurst Bottle

fully trained traffic officer. After

According to Michael, I had black senior management running

Customers enjoyed the experience of going through the aisles,

represented a defender of the underdog.

celebrations formed an important part of our work.

customers were embassies in Johannesburg and Pretoria as well as the

a typical Alice-in-Wonderland look alike. They were staying at the embassy

For many years after that, we received an annual Christmas card

Mr and Mrs Goldberg to sample. Mrs Goldberg asked me to get two

functions. Once a year, we prevailed on them to lend us trestle tables and 3

In 1976 I was visited by two members of the then Witwatersrand