{"id":842564,"date":"2025-11-10T17:26:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T15:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=842564"},"modified":"2025-11-11T11:53:28","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T09:53:28","slug":"the-61-year-old-south-african-retailer-youve-never-heard-of-taking-on-pick-n-pay-and-checkers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/842564\/the-61-year-old-south-african-retailer-youve-never-heard-of-taking-on-pick-n-pay-and-checkers\/","title":{"rendered":"61-year-old South African retailer you’ve never heard of taking on Pick n Pay and Checkers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

President Hyper claims to be the cheapest hypermarket in South Africa, tracing its history in the country back to the 1960s.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Hyper has only four locations in South Africa: Rustenburg, Vanderbijlpark, Krugersdorp and Fochville, with the latest expansion happening fairly recently, in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group’s stores are independently-owned, though use names and branding owned by the Shoprite Group. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is an unsung grocery retailer that focuses on essentials, fresh produce, butchery, bakery, deli and home meals.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company stated that it doesn\u2019t measure itself against the competition, but rather against customer expectations, which it has done since 1964.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is one of the oldest retail brands in the country, but many would not have ever heard of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company was founded by the late George Synodinos, a Greek immigrant, who came to South Africa in the 1950s.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His early ventures included a Drive-In Caf\u00e9 in Carltonville, but sinkholes forced him to move. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He then moved to Fochville in the South-West of Gauteng, where he developed the retail business that became President Hyper.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first store on President Street, Fochville, had only 360 sqm of space. Resilience and smart business decisions allowed him to overcome competition from OK Bazaars. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1986, he expanded the brand and acquired the premises used by OK Bazaars in Church Street. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The chain was then able to expand its stores to more locations. The Synodinoses were also famed for their charity work in the areas where they operated.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2021, the family sold the President Hyper trademark to Shoprite, South Africa\u2019s largest retailer that also owns Checkers and OK. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an ironic twist, OK now franchises President Hyper, with the stores still trading independently.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Synodinos retired in 2022 and returned to Athens, Greece. He passed away earlier this year at the age of 94. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The family remains strongly connected to the President Hyper brand, with Synodinos\u2019s son, Basil, acting as CEO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Massive expansion in 2025 <\/h2>\n\n\n
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George Synodinos, the founder of President Hyper<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Despite being around for nearly six decades, the retailer has undergone several significant changes in its stores. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 10,000 sqm Rustenburg store opened in May 2025 on the aptly named President Boulevard.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notably, President Hyper\u2019s three other locations anchor President Square shopping centres found across South Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This includes the President Square Vaal Shopping Centre in Vanderbijlpark, which recently underwent a massive refurbishment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The shopping centre, which Vaal Square (Pty) Ltd owns under the Bentel Group, officially reopened on 30 October 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c<\/em>This relaunch marks an important milestone for the centre as we continue to grow with our community, creating a vibrant shopping experience that brings people together,\u201d said Selwyn Bentel of Bentel Group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The centre is anchored by a 13,800 sqm President Hyper, and now features 32 new stores that include Fashion, Banks, Food, Health & Beauty Services, Home Furnishings and Appliances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur unique anchor tenant and a range of exclusive new brands truly set us apart in the area.\u00a0In addition, there is free Wi-Fi to keep visitors connected while they shop or dine,\u201d added Bentel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bental Group said that President Hyper is a renowned high-performance trader, and the developers ensured that the construction program was accelerated to ensure minimal disruption to its trade. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A significant highlight of the redevelopment was the redesign of the entrance fa\u00e7ades to create a visual balance across the mall. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A taxi rank has also been relocated closer to the stores, which will improve convenience, particularly for the Hyper. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Images of President Hyper <\/h2>\n\n\n
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President Hyper has been around for six decades, but has seen several major developments in 2025 alone. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":842578,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[5223,21566,4067,24054,7520],"class_list":["post-842564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-checkers","tag-ok-franchise","tag-pick-n-pay","tag-president-hyper","tag-shoprite"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=842564"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":842656,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842564\/revisions\/842656"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/842578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=842564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=842564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=842564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}