Massmart could shut Game stores in East and West Africa after failing to find buyers
Massmart has informed shareholders that it is considering closing Game stores in East and West Africa after failing to find local investors in those regions.
The Makro and Builders owner disclosed in December that it was reviewing its Game store portfolio.
“Massmart initiated a process over a 12-month period to investigate, as a preferred option, the opportunity to sell our East and West African stores to local investors,” stated Massmart.
“Unfortunately, this initiative did not deliver a meaningful outcome,” it said.
“Consequently, we have initiated potential store closure consultations with our staff members in our Game stores in East and West Africa.”
News of the potential East and West African store closures follow Massmart’s announcement that it was shuttering 13 underperforming Game stores in South Africa.
Game listed the first eight store closures on its website in September.
It launched “Everything Must Go” deals at the impacted stores, offering substantial discounts on various products.
Game said customers could expect at least 10% off, with limited exclusions, going up to markdowns of 40% on select items.
Massmart also told MyBroadband it initiated Section 189 retrenchment consultations with the 700 affected employees at the stores set for closure three months ago.
“We are still in discussions with staff to finalise closure dates,” Massmart said.
“As is always the case, we will apply our best efforts to identify opportunities for redeployment of the affected staff members within the broader Massmart Group.”
Massmart’s most recent financial results showed a loss of R1.029 billion for the 26 weeks ending 26 June 2022, a slight improvement over the R1.073 billion loss during the same period last year.
Game’s total sales decreased by 3%, from R7.6 billion to R7.4 billion, and it posted a trading loss of R322.2 million.
Before shutting the stores, Massmart tried to turn around the franchise fortunes through its “Game Reimagined” programme.
It launched the initiative in February 2021 and finished renovating 64 Game stores by August 2021.
The new stores provide free Wi-Fi, kids’ play areas, price check booths, sampling vending machines, QR codes for linking products to Game’s online store, and self-checkout counters.
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