The man who founded retail giants like Pick n Pay, Clicks and more
The Clicks Retail Group has gone from operating out of one outlet in Cape Town to sporting over 900 stores and 715 in-store pharmacies—becoming the largest pharmacy, health and beauty retailer in Southern Africa.
Although it takes a village to grow a dynasty, the now retail giant can be traced back to serial entrepreneur Jack Goldin, who founded some of the most well-known retail brands, including Clicks and Pick ‘n Pay.
Goldin was born in the mid 1920s and was described as an “innovator” and “go-getter” with a keen interest in the workings of business and brand development.
Goldin’s first brand was a store that would one day become a South African retail staple: Pick n Pay.
“One usual working day during 1965, I picked up the phone to find Jack Goldin on the line – predating his days as king of the Clicks’ empire, Jack was interested at that time in developing Cape Town grocery stores in a modern way,” explained the eventual owner of Pick n Pay, Raymond Ackerman in his biography Hearing Grasshoppers Jump.
When Ackerman was still heading the Checkers chain, he gave Goldin tours of their Johannesburg stores as Goldin was looking for ideas to incorporate into this very chain of his in Cape Town.
By 1966, Goldin had grown three little Pick ‘n Pay stores and a fourth cash store called Suburban Provisions, which he had put on the market for R620,000.
Rumour has it that this was because the pressure of running three Pick ‘n Pay stores became too great.
Ackerman bought the stores in 1967 for R600,000, with an additional R20,000 provided to Goldin in shares “as compensation for Jack helping me in the hand-over of the business [and for working] for me for six months while I assemble a team.”
“In those early days, I learned an enormous amount just watching Jack outmanoeuvre the big chains… he would play intricate games with suppliers, negotiating tough deals… I didn’t always agree with all the tactics, in fact I very often disagreed, but I loved to listen to it all,” said Ackerman.
“I had the utmost respect for Jack’s talent as a buyer and as a merchant,” he added.
Described as “the man with the Goldin touch,” with the money he earned from selling the three Pick n Pay stores, he started and ran another little shop in August 1968 in St Georges Street, Cape Town – Clicks.
Goldin had the vision to start the Clicks brand in South Africa based on what he had seen of the drugstore concept in the United States with the brand vision of competitive and enticing pricing, which saw the start of their slogan “You Pay Less at Clicks.”
Originally conceived as a drugstore, restrictive legislation in South Africa at the time regarding pharmacies meant that Goldin’s pharmacy dream was only realised 35 years later. In 2004, after the legislation changed in 2003, the first Clicks Pharmacy opened in Cape Town.
However, it filled an important market niche in South Africa and grew rapidly on account of its unique mix of health, home and beauty products at reasonable prices.
After successfully expanding in the Western Cape, Clicks opened its first store outside the province, which was located on West Street in Durban.
Looking to innovate, he oversaw the successful launch of Clicks’ own-label products in 1978, which now contribute to over 26% of sales.
In 1979, Goldin had Clicks Stores Limited listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), which has since grown to a market capitalisation of R83.13 billion.
Goldin was still intent on growing and expanding Clicks, and in the 1980s, new stores opened around the country, with a new Clicks head office building in Cape Town. Goldin’s expansion plan even included the acquisition of a retail chain, Discom.
After 20 years of successfully heading Clicks, he sold it to Score Food Group in 1988.
In the 1980s, Goldin emigrated to Australia, where he co-founded the Priceline brand, which followed the same principles as Clicks, with the same unique mix of health, home, and beauty products. Priceline is today one of the fastest-growing brands in Australia.
The story came full circle when, after 10 years of building the Priceline brand in Australia, he sold his shares in the business to New Clicks Holdings.
Goldin passed away in 2001, at the age of 75.
“Goldin’s flair for taking small stores and turning them into big money-spinning brands is a big part of” the various businesses’ current success,” wrote longtime senior retailer at Clicks Matteo Coné.
“Goldin’s legacy is evident in the three successful retail brands that are still growing and expanding every year: Pick n Pay, Clicks and Priceline,” he added.
Read: The woman running a R300 billion financial empire in South Africa
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