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.

In 1998 Pepkor announced that it planned to sell Stuttafords and focus on its core business, serving low- to lower-middle-income consumers.

[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) made the upmarket products extremely expensive in the local currency.

Attempts at a bailout failed and in July 2017 the chain closed,[6] except for the Windhoek, Namibia store which was sold off and remains in operation.

In 2009, to restructure to international standards, it closed smaller stores in Somerset West, Woodhill and Hyde Park.