The two retail rebels that founded South Africa’s 55-year-old discount store

Alan Hellman and Jack Schaffer founded Game, one of South Africa’s oldest department stores and first prominent TV retailers, based on the philosophy that the retail experience should be fun.

Hellman and Schaffer were friends from a young age. They first met while attending Durban Preparatory High School in the 1950s. Both also matriculated from Durban High School.

Thereafter, they studied together at the University of Durban, now known as the University of KwaZulu-Natal, where Hellman obtained a B.Com degree and Schaffer became a chartered accountant.

Schaffer started the Friendly Christmas Club in Pine Street to cater to the lower-income market’s demand for affordable gifts or treats, such as bed linen, towels, kitchen appliances, and radios.

Hellman initially worked at his family’s Rustenburg department store, but had always wanted to open a discount store. He returned to Durban with his wife to join Schaffer to set up Grants.

Their first co-owned store was on Smith Street, in a building previously known as “Sons Of England Hall,” away from Durban’s downtown shopping area.

In a blog post by one of Grants’ earliest employees, Bernard Shapiro, he explained that Hellman was a great salesman and Schaffer a marketing genius.

Shapiro recalled how Hellman taught him the basics of sales during his interview at Grants in 1966 by illustrating how to sell a packet of cigarettes.

“He had me holding the pack and smelling the fine Rhodesian Carlton Tobacco Company aroma, and I almost started smoking that day,” Shapiro said.

The store used cheeky and controversial advertising to capture people’s attention, including phrases like “Parking for 100 cars, 10 at a time!” and “war” against high prices.

Shapiro said the duo were hard workers but also had a fun side, recalling one particularly mischievous expedition after a visit from Post Office technicians.

“Jack asked them if they’d finished for the day, and they told him that they still had to go to the almost-completed mansion in La Lucia belonging to the Oppenheimer family,” Shapiro said.

“With a glint in his eye, Jack asked if they could tag along as their ‘apprentices’. They quickly found two white dust coats and some screwdrivers, and off they went with the real technicians.”

Game on — in pink

Within a few years, Grants was sold to Dion Friedland’s Rave. Friedland would later sell Rave and launch Dion Stores. Hellman, Schaffer, and the old store’s team also started devising a new store concept.

Hellman initially wanted to use an easy-to-remember one-syllable word, but also fancied the name “Two Guys.”

That would have referred to himself and Schaffer, while also abbreviating the name of a highly successful store in the US.

The name Game was eventually chosen from the idea of a fun shopping environment with “retailing as a game”. The signature striking pink colour was key to the store’s recipe for standing out.

“This was at a time when department store staff were dressed in conservative black and white uniforms. We were considered ridiculous in shocking pink,” recalls former employee Erna Vause.

The first Game store was also opened on Smith Street in 1970. Shapiro said that Hellman and Schaffer were highly supportive of everything the team tried.

“If we made mistakes, they let us fix them and helped us whenever we asked. We worked there because we loved working there, it was definitely not for the money.”

Shapiro said a key to Game’s early success was that it was the fastest to market with new products. “By the time something new got listed by the groups, Game had ordered, advertised, and sold it,” he said.

Hellman had one simple rule for deciding which products to sell: Can it be described in a short and sharp phrase over the phone so that another person will know exactly what it is?

In an interview with Expresso, Schaffer’s daughters said Game was very much a family business.

“There never felt like there was a hierarchy in the business. Our father embraced all staff and customers and was always around to handle everything,” said Leora Rubenstein.

Hellman and Schaffer’s wives also worked as cashiers and general helpers in the store’s early days. Game changed hands several times after Hellman and Schafer left the retailer.

First it was sold to Beares, then Prefcor, and thereafter Wooltru. It was eventually acquired by Massmart for R755 million in 1998. In today’s money, that deal would have been worth around R3.2 billion.

As of 2025, the retailer has expanded to 150 stores in 12 African countries. While a lot has changed under its current owner Walmart — the Game name and recognisable pink branding have remained.

Below are images from Game’s early years under Hellman and Schaffer.