‘Harrods of SA’ shuts up shop after 159 years
DEPARTMENT store Stuttafords, the 159-year-old “Harrods of South Africa”, is closing down, a victim of a global shift to online retail and a domestic economic slump that has put brands such as Gap beyond its customers’ reach.
Mirroring the fortunes of once-mighty department stores in Europe and the US, the doyenne of the South African high street applied for protection from creditors in October.
However, attempts to revive its fortunes proved futile and creditors voted in June to wind up the unlisted firm by August 1, with closing-down sales at its nine stores in South Africa, two in Botswana and one in Namibia.
The first Stuttafords store was opened in Cape Town in 1858 by Samson Rickard Stuttaford with the vision of creating a Harrods-like department store in what was Britain’s Cape Colony.
Its main Cape Town store, opened in 1938, was designed by in-house Harrods architect Louis David Blanc and echoed the British store’s famous frontage in London’s exclusive Knightsbridge district.
Through various changes of ownership, Stuttafords never lost its focus on the middleand upper-class market, despite the economy’s failure to recover fully from a deep recession in 2009 sparked by the global financial crisis.
Chief executive Robert Amoils could not be reached for comment, but he has defended his approach to the tough conditions. “I believe the path we set was correct,” he told a business website. “We ran out of time. The market downturn was so swift, so severe.”
John Evans, a lawyer overseeing the closure, said he had received a last-minute approach that could salvage two Johannesburg outlets, which would save the jobs of 300 of the group’s 950 staff.
Nearly all retailers have struggled as consumer sentiment has hit multiyear lows, a result of high unemployment and inflation gnawing at disposable income.
The main squeeze has come from cheaper retailers such as Woolworths, Sweden’s H&M and Spain’s Zara.
“The fall from grace in all these department stores is that people can get the same stuff online, and there is a rise of other quality brands at a cheaper price,” Sasha Naryshkine of asset manager Vestact said. “In an economic downturn, people are going to shop down.”
Stuttafords is not alone. Footwear and accessories chain Nine West, owned by US firm Sycamore Partners, and Spanish fashion chain Mango, whose local licences are held by House of Busby, have closed stand-alone outlets because of poor sales.
Edcon’s Edgars was taken over by creditors last year and had to restructure debt.
In May, no-frills retailer Mr Price posted its first annual drop in profits in 16 years, while rivals Woolworths and Truworths flagged lower or stalling earnings last week. – Reuters