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Pick n Pay Stores Ltd., the South African grocer built by the Ackerman family, has closed 284 stores since Sean Summers returned as chief executive in September 2023, as the chain cuts loss-making outlets in a bid to return to profit.
The company shut 129 company-owned stores and 155 franchise stores over the period. Of those, 118 were Pick n Pay supermarkets and hypermarkets. A further 81 stores were converted to the Boxer discount brand or handed to franchisees rather than closed.
Closures came in waves. Pick n Pay shut 53 stores in the year to February 2024, 103 the following year and 108 in the year to February 2026, a total that included 36 stores lost when it ended its franchise agreement in Namibia. Another 20 closed in the 26 weeks to Aug. 30, 2026, 15 of them company-owned.
"Certain loss-making stores are not suitable for conversion to Boxer or Pick n Pay franchise stores and will be closed," the company said. Summers has said the group wants "fewer but better stores."
Losses narrow
The cuts are starting to show in the numbers. The Pick n Pay supermarket business posted a trading loss of R516 million ($31.1 million) for the six months to Aug. 30, down 16.9% from R621 million a year earlier. Its turnover was flat at R36.37 billion ($2.19 billion), and its gross margin widened to 17.5% from 16.8%.
The group, which includes its majority-owned Boxer chain, reported a trading profit of R490 million ($29.5 million), up 58.1%. Its headline loss narrowed 31.9% to R299 million ($18 million). Online sales rose 35.4%. The group ended the period with R10 billion ($602 million) of net cash, R7.7 billion ($464 million) of it inside Pick n Pay. It did not declare a dividend and is targeting break-even for the Pick n Pay supermarkets in its 2029 financial year.
"We have put the fundamentals in place, and they are delivering," Summers said on Oct. 26.
Boxer has carried the group through the turnaround. Its trading profit rose 8.1% to R1 billion ($60 million) in the half, and it opened its 600th store. Pick n Pay listed Boxer in Johannesburg in November 2024 and sold about 57.3 million Boxer shares at R82 each in May, raising R4.7 billion ($283 million) and cutting its holding to 53.1%.
"Boxer is the thing that has allowed us to get the strength back into the family again," Summers said.
The Ackerman stake
The Ackerman family brought Summers back in 2023 to rescue the chain, more than two decades after he first ran it. He is due to hand over to Spencer Sonn, a Woolworths Holdings Ltd. executive named as his successor.
The family's grip on the company has loosened during the turnaround. It sold 64 million Pick n Pay shares, or 8.5% of the company, at R25.50 each in November 2025, raising R1.6 billion ($96 million). The sale cut its voting interest to 36.8% from 49% and left it with 135.35 million ordinary shares. The family said at the time that it "remains fully committed to Pick n Pay, Sean Summers and his leadership team."
Raymond Ackerman founded the business in 1967 when he bought four stores in Cape Town, and built it into one of South Africa's largest grocers. He died in September 2023, the month Summers returned. His son Gareth Ackerman chaired the board for years before the family stepped back from its leadership.
Figures were converted at R16.6 to the dollar.
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