Stuttafords finally decides to shut up shop

The 159-year-old department store Stuttafords is closing down, victim of a global shift to online retail and a domestic economic slump that’s put brands such as Ted Baker and Gap beyond its customers’ reach.

Mirroring the fortunes of oncemighty department stores in Europe and the US, it applied for protection from creditors in October.

Attempts to revive its fortunes proved futile and creditors voted in June to wind up the firm by August 1, with closing-down sales at its nine stores in SA, two in Botswana and one in Namibia.

Through various changes of ownership, it never lost its focus on the middle and upper-class SA market, despite the economy’s failure to recover fully from a deep recession in 2009 sparked by the global financial crisis.

John Evans, a lawyer overseeing its closure, said he had received a last-minute approach that could salvage two Johannesburg outlets, in Sandton and Eastgate, which would save the jobs of 300 of the group’s 950 staff.

Nearly all SA’s retailers have struggled as consumer sentiment has hit multi-year lows.

“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,” said Naryshkine.

Stuttafords isn’t alone. Edgars was taken over by creditors last year and had to restructure debt. – Reuters