Pick n Pay Clothing opens new-look flagship store in Canal Walk
Pick n Pay Clothing has revealed its new-look store in Canal Walk, Cape Town.
It has been designed with the environment in mind while offering an enhanced shopping experience to its growing number of customers.
Pick n Pay Clothing is gaining market share as it fills the gap in the local retail landscape with a quality, on-trend, affordable clothing range. It reported impressive growth sales of 14.8% over the past six months and is one of the growth drivers for the Group’s new strategy.
28 new stores have opened in the past six months, exceeding the total number of stores opened last year (27). By the end of its 2023 financial year, Pick n Pay Clothing would have opened more new stores than the last three years combined.
Its new flagship, new-look Canal Walk store marks another milestone of being its largest store. It boasts two entrances and an impressive range for women, men, children and babies.
The new-look store has been carefully designed with vertical displays and smaller aisles to create a more open shopping experience. Revamped and new Pick n Pay Clothing stores will incorporate refurbished ‘previously loved’ store fixtures to minimise waste. This includes all rails and shelving. The wooden display tables are made from recycled wood.
The stores also include the latest fixtures and technology, such as LED lighting and energy-efficient printers and till points, but have a strong reduce and reuse ethos. Most of the fixtures in stores are made from recycled materials, including hangers, mannequins, shopping bags, wooden tables, and aluminium entrance doors.
More apparent changes include impressive plant walls to act as natural air filters in the store. Pick n Pay Clothing is also planting 100 trees at Platbos Nature Reserve for every store opening. By the end of 2022, 5,000 trees – equivalent to two rugby fields – would have been planted.
The store also comes with new changing rooms, shopping bags that are either paper bags or 100% recyclable plastic carrier bags (made from 100% recycled material), Improved technology, including a self-check counter and a dedicated showcase to celebrate local talent through its Futurewear project, a collaboration project with local designers.
Pick n Pay Clothing stores are increasingly switching to Solar Inverter-Lithium battery solutions as a more sustainable option during loadshedding. Pick n Pay Clothing hopes to have this rolled out to more than 80% of stores by end November.
At the official launch today, Hazel Pillay, General Manager for Clothing, says they embarked on a conscious sustainability journey in 2019. “This was originally to accelerate how we sourced and produced our ranges, but it quickly expanded to our stores. We now have a completely refreshed look which has been designed to incorporate a range of sustainability features to meet green standards.
“We launched our pilot green store last year to trial these sustainable features. It has been so successful that we anticipate the Blue Route store will receive a level 4 certification from the Green Building Council next month. We are aiming to reach level 5 in the coming year as we always improve with each new store opening or revamp,” said Pillay.
“Our strong focus to re-use ‘previously loved’ store fixtures mean we minimise waste and our impact on the environment. This also saves costs, enabling us to continue delivering an affordable range to our customers.”
Pillay shared that around 45% of their latest summer store range also includes a sustainable feature. “Waterwise practices were used to produce our denim, our tights are made from recycled fabrics, and our tee shirts are Better Cotton certified.”
Through Pick n Pay Clothing’s localisation strategy, a locally sourced product now accounts for 40% of sales.
“We have created more jobs through our supply chain and had the opportunity to develop local talent. This week, we launched our fifth collaboration with young designer Matte Nolim. The limited edition range he has created is produced locally and provides our customers with a unique designer piece that is completely affordable," said Pillay.
Supplied by: Pick n Pay.
Guzzle Media
