Stuttafords

Stuttaford's was a chain of upscale department stores in South Africa, Botswana and Namibia that operated for 159 years from 1858 through 2017. It was nicknamed the "Harrod's of South Africa". At closing it had seven stores in South Africa, two in Botswana, and one in Namibia.[1] It continues to operate in Namibia only.[2]

Adderley Street in ca. 1897, with Thorne, Stuttaford & Co. store, middle
Stuttafords Cape Town 1957
1916 Stuttafords ad printed in Standard Dutch (before Afrikaans replaced it) in Die Huisgenoot magazine
Stuttafords, West at Field streets, Durban, 1926
Stuttafords, Rissik at Pritchard streets, Johannesburg in 1957
How the Stuttafords Cape Town Adderley Street flagship store grew over time with additions

History

Founder Samson Rickard Stuttaford opened his first shop in 1857 in Cape Town city centre.[3][1] His son was Richard Stuttaford (b. 1870) was a prominent businessman and entered the firm in 1886. In 1859 Povall & Stuttaford was established. In 1868 Thorne, Stuttaford & Co. was established.[3]

Its main Cape Town store at the corner of Adderley and Hout streets, opened in 1938, was designed by in-house Harrods architect Louis David Blanc, echoing the style of the London department store's buildings.[1]

In 1978, Graham Beck's Kangra Holdings bought Stuttafords, which at that point had five stores, for 12 million rand. On 24 August 1979 the company was delisted from the stock exchange. Beck stripped the assets, selling the transport and warehousing operations for 10 million rand.

In 1983 he sold the Durban branch to Garlicks. In 1986 he sold Stuttaford's 45% share in Cavendish Square shopping centre. in 1987 he sold the Cape Town Adderley Street flagship store to Unidev for 11 million rand. The store closed 18th April 1987.[4]

In 1987, what remained of Stuttafords, which by then also included the remaining John Orr's and Garlicks store branches, was sold to Greatermans, another department store, which was part of Kirsh Trading, later Tradegro. The John Orr's and Garlicks branches were rebranded Stuttafords which then had 8 branches. Pepkor acquired Stuttafords in 1992 along with Ackermans, Checkers and Cashbuild. In 1998 Pepkor announced that it planned to sell Stuttafords and focus on its core business, serving low- to lower-middle-income consumers. In 2000, taking control in a deal worth 106 million rand were: the management (35%) and staff (15%) of Stuttafords, and African Merchant Bank Private Equity Partners (AMB PEP, 50%): AMB PEP would later sell to the store management.[5]

In 2000 Stuttafords moved from a model of a complete traditional staid department store to that of a contemporary, specialty department store focusing on apparel, cosmetics and "soft" home goods such as bed and bath linens.[5]

In 2008, under CEO Marco Cicoria, the store pivoted again, aiming to be the country's leading retailer selling international upmarket brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, Ted Baker, Gap and Banana Republic. This proved to be fatal when in 2015 an economic crisis and reduction in the value of the rand versus the U.S. dollar (on top of a 45% import duty in the first place) made the upmarket products extremely expensive in the local currency. Attempts at a bailout failed and in 2017 the chain closed, except for the Windhoek, Namibia store which was sold off and remains in operation.[6]

Cape Town Flagship

The store at Adderley and Hout streets was the largest and grandest, and formed the central shopping district together with other now-closed department stores such as Garlicks and Fletcher & Cartwright's. In 1957, 993 employees worked here both in the retail store operation and in the head office.[7]

The flagship was a complete department store, as opposed to the smaller department stores focusing on apparel and soft home goods that it would operate starting around the turn of the 21st century. As of 1970, the flagship carried:[8]

  • Women's and men's apparel and accessories;
  • Cosmetics, Childrenswear, Luggage;
  • Home crafts (Dress Fabrics, Paper Patterns, Sewings, Notions, Trimmings, Buttons, Wools, Needlework)
  • Home furnishings (Carpets, Furniture, Bedding, Garden (including some Sports), Fabrics Lamps, Towels, Napery, Linens, Blankets, Dinnerware, Ornaments, Glassware, Cutlery, Ovenware, Kitchenware, Hardware, Gardening, Electrical, Radio, Gifts, Candles);
  • Sundries (Curios, Photographic, Stationery, Books, Records;
  • Gourmet food hall selling Groceries, Frozen Goods, Fish, Cakes, Sweets, and Smokers' Requisites.
  • There were two restaurants: Adderley Restaurant and the self-serve Bird Cage restaurant.
  • There were additional concession spaces.

Branches

In 2006, Stuttafords had the most stores in its history, 22 in total. In 2009, to restructure to international standards, it closed smaller stores in Somerset West, Woodhill and Hyde Park.[9] Some other stores were downsized or closed before liquidation in 2017, as shown in the table.

Source: John Marwood, The History of Stuttafords Department Stores[10]

Country/ Province/ Metro. area Community Shopping centre Opened Closed Notes
SOUTH AFRICA
Western Cape (formerly part of Cape Province)
Cape Town Cape Town CBD Adderley Street SW cor. Hout (1938 building)
through to St Georges Mall
33.9227763°S 18.4214175°E / -33.9227763; 18.4214175		 18 April 1987[11]
Century City Canal Walk May 2017[12] 4,336 m2 upon closing in 2017.[13]
Claremont Cavendish Square September 7, 1972[14][15] 2016[16] March 2013 "Stuttafords Emporium" launched here, 60% larger than the original store.[17]
Belville Tygervalley Centre 2014[18]
Somerset West 2009
Gauteng (formerly part of Transvaal)
Johannesburg Johannesburg CBD SE Corner of Rissik and Pritchard streets
26.2033888°S 28.0418928°E / -26.2033888; 28.0418928		 1893/1897 16 June 1973[19] Firs branch 1893, rebuilt 1897. 10-story building in Pritchard Street erected 1903. Adjacent 6-story building erected in Rissik Street 1928/9.[20] Building semi-abandoned until 2016, now site of Stuttafords House flats.[21]
Sandton Sandton City August 1973 4,645 m2 upon opening (2 sales levels of 1,858 m2 each and one service basement of 929 m2). 6,299 m2 upon closing in 2017.[13]
Roodepoort Clearwater Mall May 2017[12] 3,095 m2 upon closing in 2017.[13]
Rosebank Oxford Corner[22] 1958[3] ? 1977[22]
Rosebank Rosebank Mall (1st store) 25 October 1977[22] 1983 Replaced freestanding streetfront store at Oxford Corner.[22]
Rosebank Rosebank Mall (2nd store) 31 July 2014[23] May 2017[12] 2,409 m2 upon closing in 2017.[13]
Bedfordview Eastgate Shopping Centre 2017[13] 5,637 9m2 upon closing in 2017.[13]
Hyde Park Hyde Park Mall 2009
Pretoria Menlyn Menlyn Park 2017[13] 2,580 m2 upon closing in 2017.[13]
Brooklyn Brooklyn Mall May 2017[12] “boutique” store
Woodhill Woodlands Boulevard Shopping Complex 2009
Randburg Cresta Cresta Shopping Centre
KwaZulu-Natal (formerly Natal)
Durban Durban Central NW corner West and Field streets (today Joe Slovo & Dr Pixley Kaseme)[24]
29.8586860°S 31.0218430°E / -29.8586860; 31.0218430		 1926[3] 1983[22] 1983 became a Garlicks; as of July 2020, occupied on ground floor by Markham, Bradlows, and “Garlicks Chambers”[25]
Umhlanga Rocks Gateway Theatre of Shopping 2009 2017 replaced Musgrave Centre. 3,795 m2 upon closing in 2017.[13]
La Lucia La Lucia Mall
Westville The Pavillion 2017[13] 2,440 m2 upon closing in 2017.[13]
Pietermaritzburg 1984[3] Lease taken over by John Orr's[3]
BOTSWANA
Gaborone Gamecity Lifestyle Shopping Mall[26] 2017
Airport Junction Shopping Centre 2017
Kenya
Nairobi Dagoretti The Junction Mall 2005[3] March 2007[27] originally about 30 employees, later fell to around 15
NAMIBIA
Windhoek Maerua Mall (open) Sold in June 2017 to a 3rd party.[12]
Still operating as of July 2020.[28]

Bibliography
  • (Book) Stuttaford & Co. Ltd., Gill Fraser (ed.), The Story of Stuttafords, Cape Press, 1957. 55 pp.
  • (E-book) John Marlow, The History and Evolution of Stuttafords Department Stores of South Africa 1858 - 2015

References
  • John Marwood, The History of Stuttafords Department Stores[29]
  1. Kumwenda-Mtambo, Olivia (July 27, 2017). "The end of Stuttafords: After 159 years, 'Harrods of South Africa' shuts shop". Sunday Times (South Africa).
  2. “News”, Stuttafords Namibia official website
  3. Marwood, ebook location 4371 ff.
  4. Marwood, ch. 17
  5. Marwood, ch. 19
  6. Marwood, ch. 20
  7. Marwood, ebook location 3019
  8. Marwood, ebook location 3026 ff.
  9. "Stuttafords restructures to international standards". FMCG South Africa. 12 August 2009. Retrieved July 5, 2020.
  10. Marwood, ebook location 3426
  11. Marwood, ebook location 3198
  12. Marwood, ebook location 3772
  13. Marwood, ebook locations 3483
  14. Marwood, ebook location 2715
  15. Stuttafords News (internal newspaper), Christmas 1972, p.1
  16. Marwood, ebook location 3477
  17. Marwood, ebook location 3434
  18. Marwood, ebook location 3441
  19. Marwood, ebook location 2847
  20. Advertisement for Stuttafords
  21. Marwood, ebook location 2933
  22. Marwood, ebook locations 2961–2991
  23. Marwood, ebook location 3443
  24. https://books.google.com/books?id=YJYeAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA93
  25. Google Maps street view, July 2020
  26. Nash, Dallas (9 August 2017). "Garlick dead". Botswana Guardian. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  27. Marwood, ebook location 3352
  28. Stuttaford's Namibia website, accessed July 6, 2020
  29. Marwood, John. The History of Stuttafords Department Stores. pp. as noted.
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