Pick n Pay’s store network has undergone significant changes over the past decade, with its store reset programme seeing the footprint shrink significantly.
However, Pick n Pay CEO Sean Summers said this programme, which targeted loss-making stores, has now been successfully concluded and has aided the group’s financial health.
Now, the group is embarking on a review of its store labour model, having initiated Section 189 proceedings in early May.
In addition, with its store reset programme completed, the company can now focus on optimising and refurbishing its existing network, as well as rolling out new stores that better align with the group’s strategy.
Pick n Pay released its results for the 2026 financial year on Monday, 25 May, which showed some progress in the company’s ongoing turnaround.
One notable milestone was the conclusion of Pick n Pay’s store reset programme, which was launched in the 2024 financial year.
This programme was considered a core element of the group’s turnaround strategy, aimed at eliminating losses from underperforming company-owned Pick n Pay stores.
At the start of this programme, Pick n Pay identified 112 loss-making stores that would either be closed, converted to Boxer stores, or converted to Pick n Pay franchises. By 2025, this had increased to 114 stores.
This decision came at a cost. Since the stores had limited scope for reaching profitability, resetting the estate triggered a huge non-cash asset impairment of over R1.73 billion in the 2024 financial year.
In 2025, an impairment loss of R93 million was recorded relating to the reset stores.
However, Summers previously explained that this short-term pain would be worth the long-term gain.
To his point, the store reset programme was projected to lead to associated savings and loss avoidance of around R850 million in the 2024 financial year.
This programme, along with other factors, has significantly altered Pick n Pay’s footprint over the past two years, though the group now still has more stores in its network than it had a decade ago, as seen in the table below.
| Financial Year | Pick n Pay (Company-Owned) | Pick n Pay (Franchise) | Boxer (Company-Owned) |
| FY16 | 596 | 549 | 208 |
| FY17 | 661 | 614 | 229 |
| FY18 | 722 | 660 | 246 |
| FY19 | 749 | 719 | 270 |
| FY20 | 794 | 774 | 298 |
| FY21 | N/A | 761 | N/A |
| FY22 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| FY23 | 957 | 747 | 428 |
| FY24 (Store estate reset programme started) |
1,007 | 722 | 477 |
| FY25 | 971 | 697 | 525 |
| FY26 | 992 | 620 | 576 |
Boxer booming as Pick n Pay shrinks
As Pick n Pay has been implementing its store estate reset programme, its subsidiary, Boxer, has only seen its network grow over the past few years.
Boxer is currently one of the fastest-growing retailers in South Africa, having grown its network by 99 stores between the 2024 and 2026 financial years.
Over that same period, Pick n Pay’s company-owned stores declined by 15 stores, while the franchise network shrank by 102 stores.
Boxer’s network naturally benefited from Pick n Pay’s store reset programme, as some loss-making stores were converted to Boxer stores.
However, Boxer’s footprint has also grown in its own right, with the group’s network having more than doubled from 208 to 576 stores over the past decade.
While Pick n Pay’s store reset programme was specifically aimed at company-owned Pick n Pay stores, the group has also seen a significant reduction in franchise stores over the past few years.
Franchise stores have historically been a vital part of Pick n Pay’s strategy, with the network having peaked at 774 stores in the 2020 financial year.
However, in recent years, this footprint has shrunk significantly, due to a combination of closures, conversions, and the termination of the Namibian master franchise agreement.
The termination of this agreement led to 36 franchise stores being closed in the 2026 financial year alone.
The closures and conversions of franchise stores occurred independently of Pick n Pay’s store reset programme, with many starting even before it was launched.
For example, in 2021, the group converted 34 franchise stores to company-owned formats, another 7 the year after, 22 more in 2023, and another 10 in 2024.
In mid-2025, Pick n Pay also acquired the franchise operations in Botswana from its master franchisee for R36 million. This deal effectively “corporatised” the region, converting 13 franchise supermarkets into corporate-owned stores.
These conversions allowed Pick n Pay’s corporate-owned store network to decline far slower than its franchise network, despite the store estate reset programme.
Source: https://dailyinvestor.com/retail/135846/117-pick-n-pay-stores-shut-down-in-three-years/