Pick n Pay Stores in South Africa Close Their Doors: Here’s Why?

Pick n Pay, one the biggest retail chain in South Africa undertook the shutdown of its stores across the country, a strategy considered as a way to boost their profitability.

In their trading update, on 4 February 2025, the company announced a 0.1% decrease in sales over 45 weeks. That decline is attributed to the closure of 32 supermarkets, 24 of which were company owned and eight franchises. Surprisingly, the retailer was able to point out a positive change since its like-for-like sales managed to increase by 1.9%. This indicates that the company may begin to recover.

CEO Sean Summer’s turnaround plan for Pick n Pay will involve closing non-viable stores and converting others into the Boxer brand. This decision followed Summer’s realization that certain stores have no future because of demographic changes or problems with shopping centres. The strategy is thus to finally realize profitability by closure of underperforming stores and concentrate efforts on more productive ones. 

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Why Did Pick n Pay Close Its Stores?

The decision to close Pick n Pay stores was influenced by several variables including demographic shifts and the troubles faced by malls in certain locations that rendered them financially untenable. In addition, it was found that in other cases the company no longer saw them as suiting its long-term strategy. As an ongoing investment, Pick n Pay decided to close the underperforming stores while opening Boxer stores where demand existed.