Page 94 - KZN Top Business Portfolio 2018

BOXER SUPERSTORES

www.boxer.co.za

AFRICA’S FAVOURITE DISCOUNT this new identity the company prospered and in March
1979 a second branch was opened in Empangeni.
SUPERMARKET
The company was taken over from the original founders
The fully-fledged retail business we see today as by an independent group of investors in 1988. This was
Boxer has carved a very interesting 41-year journey. an interesting time for the company as it embarked on
Throughout its existence, one thing remains true… they a development programme aimed at identifying new
were, they are, and they always will be “the people’s store sites in other areas of KwaZulu-Natal. In 1991, a
champion” fighting for low prices, quality goods and name change was made due to an expansion plan with
ensuring the upliftment of their respective communities. the desire to branch out into other provinces. All trading
This maverick retailer’s journey began in April 1977 stores were then re-launched under the name of ‘Boxer
when KwaZulu Cash & Carry was established, in the Cash & Carry’.
centre of Empangeni, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The East London and Queenstown were the first two Boxer
company commenced operations as a conventional Cash & Carry stores to be launched in the Eastern Cape
wholesaler, trading in the essential commodities, in September 1995. The next year, the Boxer Cash &
such as maize meal, rice, samp, sugar, oil and beans. Carry concept was further extended to Mpumalanga,
However, in the late 1970s the company re-positioned with the opening of a branch in Burgersfort. By late
itself into complete retailing – supplying the informal 1997, a new corporate identity logo was adopted,
market, the bulk consumer and retail consumer. With and the trading retail name was changed to ‘Boxer
Superstores’ to better reflect its role, as a retailer.
Flying under the retail radar, Boxer Superstores
continued to grow and expand where the company
believed it could satisfy consumer needs. At the end
of August 1997, the company merged with one of its
parent companies, Goss & Co., adding three outlets in
the Transkei. In October 2001, Boxer Superstores’ first
step into the North-West Province, namely Mafikeng,
was taken. The next province that Boxer Superstores
entered was Limpopo, in the town of Tzaneen in 2002.
In the same year, Boxer Superstores successfully
concluded negotiations and announced the acquisition
by Pick n Pay. This ideally placed the group in a position
to tackle the middle to lower LSM section. 2003 saw the
rollout of an aggressive store-expansion programme
with seven new store openings across the various
provinces.
With the success and expansion of the Superstores
brand, Boxer saw an opportunity to develop a new
trading division within the company, through the
launching of a Boxer Build store in Port St Johns,
Eastern Cape in May 2004. Adopting its own identity,
the Boxer Superstores logo was uniquely modified

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