Top South African retailer closing stores across South Africa

Game, one of South Africa’s most iconic general merchandise discount retailers, is closing many of its stores across the country.

Game was started in 1970 by Alan Hellman and Jack Schaeffer, who opened their first store on Smith Street in Durban.

Hellman and Schaeffer believed that shopping had become a tedious, boring pastime and wanted to create a more vibrant retail experience.

They set out to create a fun shopping environment and so conceptualised retailing as a game, which is where the name came from.

They decided on a magenta pink colour for the brand identity, which was in stark contrast to the conservative retail aesthetics of the 1970s.

Game introduced the mega-store discount concept to South Africa, undercutting traditional department stores with 30% markdowns across a mix of merchandise.

It was also one of the earliest retailers to drive the widespread adoption and sale of television sets when broadcasts began in South Africa in 1976.

Throughout the 1980s, Game shifted from a regional discount chain to a nationwide retailer. The tagline “You Always Win at Game” was known throughout the country.

Game’s strong growth caught the attention of the corporate world, and Massmart acquired the retailer in 1998.

Its national rollout continued under the Massmart umbrella, with a Game store in most cities across South Africa.

At its peak in 2019, Massmart’s Game retail chain reached approximately 150 stores in South Africa.

Massmart closing Game stores

Over the last few years, there have been big changes at Massmart and Game. The first was that Walmart bought Massmart outright and delisted it from the JSE.

Another change was that Massmart closed one of its mass discounters, Dion Wired, and started closing many of its Game stores.

Massmart’s network of Game stores in South Africa has declined to 96, down from a peak of 150 branches nationwide in 2019.

The retail group told MyBroadband that Game operated 96 stores in the country as of Tuesday, 13 October 2026.

Exact figures aren’t publicly available for 2025 and 2026. However, Massmart said it was considering closing more stores in early 2026.

Massmart confirmed it was considering closing 20 more Game locations in February after MyBroadband learnt of the plan from a KwaZulu-Natal business owner.

This should not come as a surprise. Game has been in a prolonged structural decline in South Africa.

Once a dominant market leader known for deep discounts and large-format ‘everything under one roof’ shopping, the chain has faced severe headwinds.

Over the past few years, Massmart attempted multiple turnaround efforts, including the Game Reimagined initiative.

In trying to modernise, such as moving away from fresh food or changing category mixes, it alienated its traditional bargain-hunting base.

Rather than shutting down underperforming stores entirely, Massmart pursued strategies to convert them to other brands.

One of the strategies was to convert the Game stores to new Walmart outlets. However, this plan seemed to have stalled.

Massmart also had a strategy to convert some Game stores into smaller-format Makro stores, but this has not materialised either.