PnP shuts first hyper

VAAL: REPLACED BY BOXER AND SHOPRITE ALONGSIDE EACH OTHER

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Pick n Pay has quietly shut one of its Hypermarkets, the store known as Hyper Vaal. This is the first Hypermarket it has closed in the country. It is located in the Bedworth Centre, on the R42 (Barrage Road) in Vanderbijlpark (diagonally opposite the Vaal Makro).

It closed in November last year, and is unrelated to the current closure and conversion programme announced by CEO Sean Summers as part of the group's strategy to restore its core business. This decision would have been made months prior to Summers returning to the retailer.

The surrounding areas have changed significantly over the last few decades, which means the overall market the store serves is very different now from when the hyper was opened.

Summers has been clear that the retailer won't simply keep trading at stores that are unprofitable for the sake of doing so.

This store must have been a particularly poor performer, given that it wasn't even left to Summers to make a call on the closure.