Stuttaford's was a chain of upscale department stores in South Africa, Botswana and Namibia that operated for 159 years from 1858 through 2017. It was nicknamed the "Harrod's of South Africa". At closing it had seven stores in South Africa, two in Botswana, and one in Namibia. [1] It continues to operate in Namibia only. [2]
Founder Samson Rickard Stuttaford opened his first shop in 1857 in Cape Town city centre. [3] [1] His son was Richard Stuttaford (b. 1870) was a prominent businessman and entered the firm in 1886. In 1859 Povall & Stuttaford was established. In 1868 the company Thorne, Stuttaford & Co. was established in collaboration with William Thorne. [3]
Its main Cape Town store at the corner of Adderley and Hout streets, opened in 1938, was designed by in-house Harrods architect Louis David Blanc, echoing the style of the London department store's buildings. [1]
In 1978, Graham Beck's Kangra Holdings bought Stuttafords, which at that point had five stores, for 12 million rand. On 24 August 1979 the company was delisted from the stock exchange. Beck stripped the assets, selling the transport and warehousing operations for 10 million rand.[ citation needed ]
In 1983 he sold the Durban branch to Garlicks. In 1986 he sold Stuttaford's 45% share in Cavendish Square shopping centre. in 1987 he sold the Cape Town Adderley Street flagship store to Unidev for 11 million rand. The store closed 18 April 1987. [4]
In 1987, what remained of Stuttafords, which by then also included the remaining John Orr's and Garlicks store branches, was sold to Greatermans, another department store, which was part of Kirsh Trading, later Tradegro. The John Orr's and Garlicks branches were rebranded Stuttafords which then had 8 branches. Pepkor acquired Stuttafords in 1992 along with Ackermans, Checkers and Cashbuild. In 1998 Pepkor announced that it planned to sell Stuttafords and focus on its core business, serving low- to lower-middle-income consumers. In 2000, taking control in a deal worth 106 million rand were: the management (35%) and staff (15%) of Stuttafords, and African Merchant Bank Private Equity Partners (AMB PEP, 50%): AMB PEP would later sell to the store management. [5]
In 2000 Stuttafords moved from a model of a complete traditional staid department store to that of a contemporary, specialty department store focusing on apparel, cosmetics and "soft" home goods such as bed and bath linens. [5]
In 2008, under CEO Marco Cicoria, the store pivoted again, aiming to be the country's leading retailer selling international upmarket brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, Ted Baker, Gap and Banana Republic. This proved to be fatal when in 2015 an economic crisis and reduction in the value of the rand versus the U.S. dollar (on top of a 45% import duty) made the upmarket products extremely expensive in the local currency. Attempts at a bailout failed and in July 2017 the chain closed, [6] except for the Windhoek, Namibia store which was sold off and remains in operation. [7]
The store at Adderley and Hout streets was the largest and grandest, and formed the central shopping district together with other now-closed department stores such as Garlicks and Fletcher & Cartwright's. In 1957, 993 employees worked here both in the retail store operation and in the head office. [8]
The flagship was a complete department store, as opposed to the smaller department stores focusing on apparel and soft home goods that it would operate starting around the turn of the 21st century. As of 1970, the flagship carried: [9]
In 2006, Stuttafords had the most stores in its history, 22 in total. In 2009, to restructure to international standards, it closed smaller stores in Somerset West, Woodhill and Hyde Park. [10] Some other stores were downsized or closed before liquidation in 2017, as shown in the table.
Source: John Marwood, The History of Stuttafords Department Stores [11]
Country/ Province/ Metro. area | Community | Shopping centre | Opened | Closed | Sq m upon closing in 2017, if applicable [12] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
SOUTH AFRICA | |||||
Western Cape (formerly part of Cape Province) | |||||
CAPE TOWN M. M. | Cape Town CBD | Adderley Street | 1938 | April 18, 1987 [13] | |
| |||||
Century City | Canal Walk | May 2017 [14] | 4,336 | ||
Claremont | Cavendish Square | September 7, 1972 [15] [16] | 2016 [17] | ||
| |||||
Belville | Tygervalley Centre | 2014 [19] | |||
Somerset West | 2009 | ||||
GAUTENG (formerly part of Transvaal) | |||||
JOHANNESBURG M. M. | Johannesburg CBD | SE Corner of Rissik and Pritchard streets 26°12′12″S28°02′31″E / 26.2033888°S 28.0418928°E | 1893/1897 | June 16, 1973 [20] | |
Sandton | Sandton City | August 1973 | 6,299 | ||
| |||||
Roodepoort | Clearwater Mall | May 2017 [14] | 3,095 | ||
Rosebank | Oxford Corner [23] | 1958 [3] | 1977 [23] | ||
Rosebank | Rosebank Mall (1st store) | October 25, 1977 [23] | 1983 | ||
Replaced freestanding streetfront store at Oxford Corner. [23] | |||||
Rosebank | Rosebank Mall (2nd store) | July 31, 2014 [24] | May 2017 [14] | 2,409 | |
Bedfordview | Eastgate Shopping Centre | 2017 [12] | 5,637 | ||
Hyde Park | Hyde Park Mall | 2009 | |||
Randburg - Cresta | Cresta Shopping Centre | ||||
PRETORIA and Tshwane M. M. | Menlyn | Menlyn Park | 2017 [12] | 2,580 | |
Brooklyn | Brooklyn Mall | May 2017 [14] | |||
"Boutique" store" | |||||
Woodhill | Woodlands Boulevard Shopping Complex | 2009 | |||
KWAZULU-NATAL (formerly Natal) | |||||
DURBAN and eThekwini M. M. | Durban Central | NW corner West and Field streets (today Joe Slovo & Dr Pixley Kaseme) [25] 29°51′31″S31°01′19″E / 29.8586860°S 31.0218430°E | 1926 [3] | 1983 [23] | |
1983 became a Garlicks; as of July 2020, occupied on ground floor by Markham, Bradlows, and "Garlicks Chambers" [26] | |||||
Umhlanga Rocks | Gateway Theatre of Shopping | 2009 | 2017 | 3,795 | |
| |||||
La Lucia | La Lucia Mall | ||||
Westville | The Pavillion | 2017 [12] | 2,440 | ||
PIETERMARITZBURG | 1984 [3] | ||||
| |||||
BOTSWANA | |||||
GABORONE | Gamecity Lifestyle Shopping Mall [27] | 2017 | |||
Airport Junction Shopping Centre | 2017 | ||||
KENYA | |||||
NAIROBI | Dagoretti | The Junction Mall | 2005 [3] | March 2007 [28] | |
| |||||
NAMIBIA | |||||
WINDHOEK | Maerua Mall | (open) | --- | ||
Nordstrom, Inc. is an American luxury department store chain headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and founded by John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin in 1901. The original Wallin & Nordstrom store operated exclusively as a shoe store, and a second Nordstrom's shoe store opened in 1923. The growing Nordstrom Best chain began selling clothing in 1963, and became the Nordstrom full-line retailer that presently exists by 1971. The company founded its off-price Nordstrom Rack division in 1973, and grew both full-line and off-price divisions throughout the United States in the following years. The full-line division competes with department stores including Bloomingdale's, Macy's, Neiman Marcus, and Saks Fifth Avenue, while the off-price division competes with retailers including the TJX Companies and Ross Stores. Previous expansions beyond the contiguous United States include Puerto Rico (2015–2020) and Canada (2014–2023).
Harrods is a luxury department store located on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, London, England. It is owned by Harrods Ltd, a company currently owned by the state of Qatar via its sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority. The Harrods brand also applies to other enterprises undertaken by the Harrods group of companies, including Harrods Estates, Harrods Aviation and Air Harrods. Recognised as one of the world's leading department stores, it is visited by 15 million people per year.
Hudson's Bay, also known as The Bay, is a Canadian luxury goods department store chain. It is the flagship brand of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), the oldest and longest-surviving company in North America as well as one of the oldest and largest continuously operating companies in the world.
A discount store or discounter offers a retail format in which products are sold at prices that are in principle lower than an actual or supposed "full retail price". Discounters rely on bulk purchasing and efficient distribution to keep down costs.
The Disney Store is a chain of specialty stores selling only Disney related items, many of them exclusive, under its own name and Disney Outlet. It was a business unit of Disney Consumer Products with the Disney Experiences segment of The Walt Disney Company conglomerate.
The World of Disney is the flagship chain of specialty retail stores owned and operated by the merchandise division of Disney Experiences, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. Currently, there are four locations that sell Disney products.
John Lewis & Partners is a British brand of high-end department stores operating throughout the United Kingdom, with concessions also located in Ireland. The brand sells general merchandise as part of the John Lewis Partnership. It was created by Spedan Lewis, son of the founder, John Lewis, in 1929. From 1925 to 2022, the chain had a policy that it would always at least match a lower price offered by a national high street competitor; this pledge was known by the name "Never Knowingly Undersold".
Adderley Street is a street in Cape Town, South Africa. It is considered the main street of the central business district (downtown) of Cape Town. The Christmas lights, night markets, main train station and numerous shops and restaurants and office towers are on this thoroughfare.
Edcon Limited was a retail company based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Its subsidiaries included Edgars, a department store with 203 branches. In 2020, the Competition Tribunal approved the sale of the Edgars division to Retailability (pty) Ltd, and Jet to The Foschini Group.
Bond Clothing Stores, Bond Clothes, Bond Clothiers, or Bond Stores, was a men's clothing manufacturing company and retailer. The company catered to the middle-class consumer.
Ackermans is a South African chain of clothing retail stores. Founded in 1916 in Wynberg, Cape Town, Ackermans has over 700 stores across Southern Africa, including in Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho, eSwatini and Zambia, and is headquartered in Kuilsrivier near Cape Town. In 2015 Ackermans was rated the second best clothing store by the South African Consumer Satisfaction Index.
Pepkor is a South African-based investment and holding company focused on the discount and value consumer retail and fintech markets. The majority of operations are in South Africa, and operations extend to other African countries and Brazil. It manages retail brands, selling predominantly clothing, footwear, and homeware products, in addition to household furniture, appliances, consumer electronics, and building materials.
Christoffel F. Hendrik Wiese is a South African businessman and former billionaire. His source of wealth is consumer retail.
Richard Stuttaford was a South African businessman and parliamentarian.
James Wellwood "Whitey" Basson is a South African businessman and billionaire who was largely responsible for growing a small business called Shoprite from an 8-store chain valued at R1 million into an international retail conglomerate with revenue in 2019 of R150 billion, market capitalisation of R114 billion, more than 2 300 stores and 140 000 employees across 15 African countries. Deloitte's Global Powers of Retailing 2019 ranked The Shoprite Group as the 86th largest retailer in the world.
Garlicks was a department store chain in South Africa.
Cavendish Square is a shopping centre in Claremont, Cape Town. It was at the time the largest upscale centre to open in Cape Town and was a project of Stuttafords department store. Original tenants included a full-line Stuttaford's store, a Greatermans department store, whose space was later taken by Garlicks. The centre opened September 7, 1972. It is a popular retail destination in the area, offering a wide range of shops, boutiques, restaurants, and entertainment options.
Edgars is a Johannesburg-based chain of stores present all over Southern Africa. The department store was previously selling clothing, shoes, homeware & beauty and under new leadership has recently shifted its focus to mass-market fashion and beauty products.
Sir William Thorne was a draper, milliner and businessman in Cape Town. He was also an active civil servant and Mayor of Cape Town.