Major retailers closing stores in South Africa – but not Shoprite

While major retail groups like Pick n Pay, SPAR and even Italtile are closing down non-performing or hard-hit stores in South Africa, the Shoprite Group is going in the opposite direction in a big way.

Reporting its financial results for the 26 weeks ended December 2024 (HY25), Shoprite recorded a sharp increase in store openings year-on-year, with 264 new stores opened across its segments in South Africa alone.

This includes 32 new Shoprite stores, 37 new Checkers stores and 81 new Shoprite and Checkers Liquor stores.

The group closed 16 stores over the 12-month period, but this was still a huge net increase in 248 stores.

Shoprite has also confirmed 122 new store openings in the second half of its financial year. 43 new stores are being opened under its USave brand, which is a big focus area.

The group is also focusing heavily on its “adjacent businesses,” which include clothing, baby, outdoor, and pet brands.

Shoprite chief executive officer Peter Engelbrecht said that, while small relative to the overall group, expanding these adjacent formats will continue to yield results.

He pointed out that the group’s pet brand, Petshop Science, has grown to 129 stores by March 2025, with sales for the interim period increasing by 56.9%.

“Whilst presently small in the Group context, our expansion into these categories is meaningful in the universe of everyday purchases for our customers and important in terms of the role they play in our ecosystem, which defines our roadmap for future growth,” he said.

Shoprite’s store expansion is notable, given that the group has moved to focus its business. It recently disposed of its OK Furniture and House & Home brands, removing 407 stores from its continuing operations.

The group is also selling non-core assets, such as a host of group-owned shopping malls and retail centres, as part of a sale and leaseback strategy.

This resulted in a small profit of R24 million for the group during the reporting period. The company said it will explore more of these as opportunities arise.

Pick n Pay, SPAR and Italtile closures

Shoprite’s growth stands in stark contrast to big retailers like Pick n Pay and SPAR.

Tile producer Italtile has also joined the ranks closures, with its latest financial results pointing to

The company’s retail brands are CTM, Italtile Retail, and TopT, represented through a network of 211 stores and seven online websites.

However, the group indicated that has had to relocate or even close some of its stores in unsafe areas of South Africa where they have been confronted with rising criminality.

“As criminal behaviour and illegal activities flourish, we are continuously committing significant effort and investment to bolster our security ecosystem, including, in extreme cases, relocating or closing stores in unsafe areas,” it said.

Other closures are more closely tied to operations, though.

In Pick n Pay’s case, it has been on a widely publicised streamlining process where it has been shutting down underperforming stores to return the group to profitability.

In a trading update for the 45 weeks that ended 5 January 2025, Pick n Pay reported that its South Africa business closed net 32 supermarkets during the period.

The store closures included 24 company-owned Pick n Pay supermarkets and eight franchise stores.

Retail group SPAR, meanwhile, noted in its 18 weeks ended 31 January 2025 that it would be closing 13 underperforming stores in its South Rand Region.

All these closures come as retailers have had to contend with a strained and challenging consumer environment over the past few years, as well as the groups’ own strategic moves that failed to deliver results.

Both SPAR and Pick n Pay have since reversed course and expressed a renewed focus on core operations that are more likely to yield results.

Woolworths is still to publish its interim results to December 2024 (expected 5 March), however its latest full-year results showed moderate growth in its store network to June 2024.

This included 21 Woolworths Fashion, Beauty and Home stores opening in South Africa in the year, taking it to 290 outlets.

Woolworths Food, however, saw 5 store closures, cutting its count down to 360 in South Africa. At the time, the group forecasted growth of 22 new outlets to 382 by June 2025.

The group is also expanding its offering with Absolute Pets, adding 172 stores to the roster under the “Woolworths Food” segment.