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Retail · Discount clothing and general merchandise

PEP

South African discount retail brand founded by Renier van Rooyen in De Aar in 1965 and now operated within Pepkor.

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A PEP store in Prince Albert, Western Cape
A PEP store in Prince Albert, Western Cape. Representative image for PEP founder Renier van Rooyen. Photo: Suzi-k / Wikimedia Commons · Source · CC BY-SA 3.0

PEP is a South African discount retail brand that sells clothing, household goods and related services through a large store network. [3]

History

Renier van Rooyen opened the first store in De Aar in 1965 with a low-price and customer-dignity purpose. [1]

PEP became the central operating heritage of Pepkor. Price benchmarking and operating efficiency remain central to its current model. [3]

Frequently asked questions

Who founded PEP?

Renier van Rooyen opened the first PEP store in 1965. [1]

Where did PEP begin?

The first store opened in De Aar in the Northern Cape. [1]

Who owns PEP?

PEP operates within the Pepkor Holdings group. [3][2]

Key milestones

  1. The first PEP store opened in De Aar. [1]

  2. Steinhoff acquired the Pepkor group containing PEP. [1]

  3. PEP entered the listed STAR group structure. [4]

Founded / co-founded by

  • Renier van Rooyen — South African retail founder who opened the first PEP store in De Aar in 1965.

Company builders

  • Pieter Erasmus — South African retail executive and Pepkor Holdings chief executive since October 2022.

Related articles

Related institutions

  • Pepkor Holdings — JSE-listed retail group that entered the market as Steinhoff Africa Retail in 2017 and adopted the Pepkor name in 2018.
  • Ackermans — South African value retail brand founded in Wynberg in 1916 and now part of the Pepkor clothing and general merchandise platform.

Sources

  1. Pepkor Holdings, Integrated report 2018, 2018-11-26. Original source. Accessed 2026-10-28. ↩
  2. Pepkor Holdings, Annual financial statements 2025, 2025-12-11. Original source. Accessed 2026-10-28. ↩
  3. Pepkor Holdings, PEP retail platform. Original source. Accessed 2026-10-28. ↩
  4. Steinhoff Africa Retail, Integrated report 2017, 2017-12-18. Original source. Accessed 2026-10-28. ↩