The Founders Who Built South African Retail
Raymond Ackerman founded Pick n Pay; Stewart Cohen and Laurie Chiappini co-founded Mr Price; Whitey Basson built Shoprite after an existing chain was acquired. Their histories show why “founder” is not one universal category.
Pick n Pay: Raymond and Wendy Ackerman
Pick n Pay was founded in 1967 after Raymond Ackerman and Wendy Ackerman acquired four small stores in Cape Town. Pick n Pay describes Raymond as founder and Wendy as a founding executive. [1][2]
The retailer listed the following year and remained under Ackerman leadership for decades. [3]
Mr Price: Stewart Cohen and Laurie Chiappini
Stewart Cohen and Laurie Chiappini met in 1979 and developed a shared retail concept. In 1985 they opened the first Mr Price Factory Shop in Klerksdorp. [4]
The pair acquired control of the group from BOE in 1991. Mr Price’s own reporting continues to identify them as its co-founders. [5]
Shoprite: Whitey Basson as builder, not original-store founder
Shoprite’s modern story is different. An existing eight-store chain was acquired in 1979; Whitey Basson then headed the group and led its expansion for 37 years. [6][7]
Large acquisitions such as Checkers and OK Bazaars became part of that expansion. Basson’s historical significance comes from building the group, not from creating the first Shoprite stores. [8][6]
Three different founder stories
These companies illustrate three distinct patterns: a family founding a new retailer from acquired stores; two co-founders opening a new retail concept; and an executive transforming an acquired chain into a much larger group. [1][4][6]
Treating all three patterns as identical would flatten the corporate record. The stronger reference approach is to describe the transaction and leadership sequence directly. [2][5][7]
Sources
- Pick n Pay, Pioneering South African Raymond Ackerman dies at 92, 2023-09-07. Original source. Accessed 2026-09-25. ↩
- Pick n Pay, Integrated Annual Report 2013: Board of directors, 2013-03-03. Original source. Accessed 2026-09-25. ↩
- Pick n Pay, Annual Report 2012: Group at a glance, 2012-02-29. Original source. Accessed 2026-09-25. ↩
- Mr Price Group, The Mr Price Story: 40th Birthday. Original source. Accessed 2026-09-25. ↩
- Mr Price Group, Integrated Report 2021, 2021-04-03. Original source. Accessed 2026-09-25. ↩
- Shoprite Holdings, Annual Report 2004, 2004-06-30. Original source. Accessed 2026-09-25. ↩
- Shoprite Holdings, Interim results 2017, 2017-02-21. Original source. Accessed 2026-09-25. ↩
- Shoprite Holdings, Integrated Annual Report 2020, 2020-06-28. Original source. Accessed 2026-09-25. ↩