Billionaire Christo Wiese's Shoprite just blew past its store opening target

Shoprite Holdings, Africa's largest food retailer and a company in which South African billionaire Christo Wiese holds a major stake, has already exceeded its full-year store opening target with a month still remaining in its financial year, the company confirmed on Sunday.

The retailer opened 268 stores across its core Supermarkets RSA segment in the first 11 months of its 2026 financial year, surpassing the 223 stores it had originally planned for the full 12 months ending June 2026.

New openings in the period included 41 Shoprite supermarkets, 30 Checkers stores, 48 Usave outlets and 92 LiquorShop branches. Two newer formats outpaced expectations by a significant margin. Petshop Science opened 38 stores against a planned 23. UNIQ clothing by Checkers opened 13 stores against a planned five.

Gauteng accounted for the highest number of new openings at 82 stores, followed by the Western Cape at 48 and KwaZulu-Natal at 31. The group said thousands of new jobs were created across all nine provinces. In the first half of the 2026 financial year, Shoprite spent R3.9 billion ($235.5 million) on its store network.

CEO Pieter Engelbrecht has previously said the group's strategy of converting stores to its FreshX format while opening in underrepresented areas remains a top medium-term priority. The group's omnichannel push means its corporate-owned store base now sits within 5 kilometres of 85 percent of South African households, serving as the backbone for online ordering and delivery.

Shoprite's expansion extends what trade research firm Trade Intelligence describes as a seven-year consecutive run of market share gains in South Africa's grocery sector. Pick n Pay and Spar have both seen shopper penetration decline in recent years. Boxer has gained ground, partly through the conversion of former Pick n Pay stores. The group's full-year 2026 results are expected in September.

Wiese, 83, holds an 11.5 percent stake in Shoprite Holdings, equivalent to approximately 68 million shares. At the company's current JSE share price of approximately R293 and an exchange rate of R16.57 to the dollar, his stake is worth approximately R19.9 billion ($1.2 billion). His net worth is estimated at $1.7 billion by Forbes, with the Shoprite position its largest single component.

Wiese stepped down as Shoprite chairman in November 2020 but remains a non-executive director. He played a central role in building the retailer from a small regional chain into a continental operation through acquisitions including Checkers, OK Bazaars and Ackermans. In May 2026, he raised R1.07 billion ($64.6 million) through a synthetic transaction involving deferred Shoprite shares, the second consecutive year he used the same mechanism to unlock liquidity without reducing his voting power in the company.

Shoprite reported record full-year 2025 sales of R252.7 billion ($14.3 billion), up 8.9 percent, with trading profit rising 16.6 percent to R14.95 billion ($844 million) and annual profit up 18.8 percent to R7.39 billion ($417 million).