SOUTH AFRICA – One of the largest South African retailers, Pick n Pay has opened a new Harbour Bay Simon’s Town franchise store in Simon’s town, taking their retail experience and services to customers in the town, reported Business Day.

The new store offers a range of fresh produce plus a gourmet butchery counter to assist customers with an informative service and great-tasting quality meat and delivers on Pick n Pay’s “Butcher’s Promise”.

According to Pick n Pay franchise co-owner Gary Williams, the new Pick n Pay store had created 90 jobs in total and some staff were transferred from the Pick n Pay Fish Hoek franchise store to the Simon’s Town store.

“We are enormously excited about the new store and look forward to welcoming and servicing the Simon’s Town community with pride,” he said.

“In total this project has created 90 new jobs and 30 growth opportunities, all from the surrounding areas,” said Williams.

“We thought that we would bring a good store closer to the Simon’s Town community.

I think the centre itself is going to be something that the community will appreciate and will make use of I’m sure.”

He said before the shopping centre was built the nearest Pick n Pay store was in Fish Hoek and that the shopping centre was sorely needed in the area and was certain will be well supported.

The store which is Pick n Pay’s 41st store in the Western Cape, comes in an initiative of creating more franchises, and is part of Pick n Pay’s economic empowerment scheme.

“What we want to do is to get this store off the ground properly and we want to add another 50 jobs to the 90 we already have.

That will mean that our tills are ringing and we can grow our business.

My father likes to say ‘Never say never because never is a long time’, so we will wait and see what happens in the future,” added Williams.

The retailer has gone a mile further on delivering on its sustainability strategy including an initiative to cut plastic waste in the next five years and introduction of 100% recycled plastic bags and the phasing out of plastic straws.

It recently held up its corporate responsibility through a partnership with MasterCard to donate more free meals at its stores.

As a result of cost-cutting initiatives, Pick n Pay reported almost 7% growth in net profit for the year ended February 2018.