Well-known shop closes after 39 years in South Africa
One of South Africa's most iconic retailers is closing its doors for good.
Pepkor has decided to close its well-known retail chain, Shoe City, 39 years after the first store opened in a warehouse in Bellville in 1986.
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From its first days, Shoe City was an instant success, offering affordable and accessible footwear.
By 2000, Shoe City had 65 stores, and two years after joining the Pepkor Group in 2005, it had expanded to 95 stores countrywide.
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Despite its long history and reputation for affordable everyday fashion, Pepkor has said that the chain has been struggling for some time.
According to BusinessTech, Pepkor has found that Shoe City has consistently “dragged down the performance of its speciality division”.
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Pepkor reports that: “While this division managed overall sales growth of 8.3%, like-for-like growth was only 3%, largely because Shoe City continued to underperform.”
The Pepkor group, after reviewing the business, have decided the format was sub-scale, did not offer strong future growth potential, and the investment needed to keep it running is no longer justifiable.
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Sean Cardinaal, Pepkor COO, has informed investors that the company regularly reviews its assets to ensure that money and attention are being allocated where they can yield the best returns.
Cardinaal says that Pepkor has tried to improve and adjust Shoe City, but it has reached a point of no return.
Pepkor have decided to close the business in order “to keep the team focused” and has stressed that Shoe City employees will not lose their jobs.
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The Shoe City employees will be moved to other Pepkor brands.
The closure will officially take place in the first half of Pepkor’s 2026 financial year.
Of the 113 Shoe City stores, around 50 will be converted to other Pepkor brands, and the remaining stores will close after their leases expire.
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Pepkor has made it clear that this closure forms part of a broader strategy to focus on businesses with stronger prospects.
The group is expanding in multiple areas, with its core retail business showing strong performance and market share gains, as well as benefiting from solid customer demand.
Pepkor now operates over 6,000 stores across all its brands and over 10 million customers on its digital platforms.
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As of its latest report, Pepkor’s revenue rose 12% to R95,3 billion.
Its core Clothing and General Merchandise segment is up 8.9% to R66.9 billion.
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Image: Pepkor