Pick n Pay to reopen 58 stores by end of next week, calls for lifting of liquor sales ban
Supermarket chain Pick n Pay (PnP) is planning to reopen up to 58 of its PnP and Boxer stores by the end of next week.
This follows the recent violent protests in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal that resulted in 136 of PnP’s food, grocery, clothing and building stores being looted or damaged, along with 76 liquor stores.
Two PnP distribution centres in KwaZulu-Natal were also badly damaged, CEO Pieter Boone said, describing the scale and nature of the destruction as “heart breaking”.
Boone is, however, inspired by the progress made by PnP and Boxer teams in cleaning up, rebuilding and restocking the stores and getting them ready to welcome customers again.
“The progress since I was here last week is massive. Every day, our teams are accelerating their progress and shortening their timescales,” he commented, adding that PnP would soon have a fully restored supply chain network.
“Speaking to franchisees and independent traders in the affected areas, I firmly believe that it is time now for President Cyril Ramaphosa to announce a lifting of the ban on liquor sales. We have hopefully passed the peak of the Covid-19 third wave,” Boone said.
“In normal times, many independent shopkeepers depend on responsible liquor sales to sustain their businesses and will not survive another prolonged ban. The social unrest, looting and damage has dealt them a further blow – as well as releasing a large amount of looted liquor into the illicit market,” he explained.
Lifting the ban would be widely welcomed across the country as a positive and responsible step forward in South Africa’s recovery from the events of last week, Boone believes.
By the end of next week, PnP plans to have repaired and be ready to reopen 28 of its 76 severely damaged liquor stores in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation