Pick n Pay CEO Sean Summers says the retailer’s turnaround is starting to take shape, even as it continues to work through the difficult process of closing unprofitable stores worth about R4 billion in sales.
In an interview with BizNews, Summers confirmed that most of the store closures are now complete, with only a handful remaining, and that the focus is shifting to rebuilding a stronger, more efficient business.
The group closed a net 59 supermarkets over its interim period, with between five and eight more stores on the chopping block.
On Monday, 27 October, Pick n Pay released its interim results for the 26 weeks through August 2025.
On a group level, the company saw its turnover grow by 4.9% to R58.8 billion and its trading profit improve by 273.5% to R310 million.
However, this was largely driven by Boxer’s standout performance, as the retailer grew its turnover by nearly 14% to R22.52 billion and its trading profit by over 16% to R931 million.
Boxer was spun off and separately listed on the JSE in 2024 as part of Pick n Pay’s turnaround plan, although the retailer retained a majority stake.
Since its unbundling, Boxer has continued to go from strength to strength and provided a significant boost to the company’s latest results.
In contrast, the company’s core brand, Pick n Pay, proved to be a drag on the company’s latest interim results.
This segment reported that its turnover remained essentially flat at R36.3 billion and it recorded a trading loss of R621 million.
Notably, this loss is a 13.5% improvement from the first half of the company’s 2025 financial year.
The retailer attributed its loss to a reduction in its store estate, which declined by a net 59 supermarkets over the 26-week period.
“We’ve closed quite a lot of non-performing stores in the last 18 months in the company. So we’ve taken about R4 billion of sales out,” Summers said.
“If you look at the total volume that Pick n Pay is doing, it’s kind of flat year-on-year. But our like-for-like sales in our existing stores are up well.”
Great things are easily destroyed, but not so easily built
Summers explained that the store closures were a necessary part of the retailer’s recovery plan after years of underperformance. “No retailer gets every single store choice right, and over time, demographics change,” he said.
“The store closures have kind of been done to all intents and purposes. There are a few that will be left to be done—maybe five or eight stores—and after that, we review every lease as it comes up, which is what all retailers do.”
Despite the painful cuts, Summers said the early signs of progress were becoming visible, both in customer sentiment and store-level operations.
Summers said Pick n Pay has been focusing heavily on refurbishments to modernise and reinvigorate its network.
“We’ve got about 17 revamps reopening between now and the end of the year. Next year, we’ll have some of the bigger centres—the Waterfront, Sea Point, and Canal Walk—all being redone,” he said.
Summers acknowledged that the company still faces a constrained market environment, with South African consumers under enormous pressure.
However, he said that despite these headwinds, Pick n Pay’s underlying performance is improving.
Pick n Pay is still losing money at a headline and pre-tax level, but it has cut this loss from R1 billion to R300 million.
“It’s a good performance in a tough market, and we’re very happy with it. Would we want more? Absolutely. But on we go.”
Summers was frank about the scale of the challenge ahead, saying the company is still only at the start of its recovery journey.
“Pick n Pay has been on a backward trajectory for over a decade. To turn that around has to be done profoundly. A lot of our institutional muscle memory was lost, and it takes time to reinstate that,” he said.
Summers said his mission is to restore Pick n Pay to its former position as South Africa’s best supermarket chain.
“It’s not a race for size or the most stores. We are genuinely on a mission again to put Pick n Pay back at the top—where we were 17 or 18 years ago,” he said.
“Great things are easily destroyed, but not so easily built. Our company was hollowed out from the inside, and there’s nothing that happened to us that wasn’t self-inflicted.”
“Rebuilding that corporate muscle memory takes years. It’s not about size; it’s about getting back to being the best again.”
