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George Ivan Rosenthal

Retail founder

By South African Index Editorial Desk · Published · Updated · Last reviewed

Entrance to a Foschini fashion store in a South African shopping centre
A current Foschini store represents the retail business founded by George Rosenthal and expanded under Stanley Lewis.: Reuters · Source. Resized and converted to WebP for this site.

George Ivan Rosenthal founded Foschini in 1924 and opened its first store in Johannesburg in 1925. [1][2]

Biography

Rosenthal came from the United States with a plan to sell affordable, fashionable clothing to South African women. [1]

He first used American out-of-season stock, which suited the opposite southern hemisphere season. [1]

The first store opened on Pritchard Street on 27 November 1925. Cape Town followed soon afterwards. [1]

Foschini had nine branches by 1927 and became the base for a much larger retail group. [1]

Key contributions

Rosenthal created the original retail concept, store name and early branch network. [1]

Life and career timeline

  1. Founded Foschini. [1][2]

  2. Opened the first store in Johannesburg. [1]

  3. Expanded the business to nine branches. [1]

  4. The clothing company became the JSE’s first listed clothing retailer. [1]

Frequently asked questions

Did George Rosenthal found TFG?

He founded Foschini, the operating business from which today’s TFG developed. [1]

Was Stanley Lewis the founder?

No. Lewis acquired control in 1958, more than three decades after Rosenthal founded Foschini. [1]

When did the first store open?

It opened on 27 November 1925. [1]

Related people

  • Stanley Lewis — Controlling investor and company builder who expanded Foschini into a diversified South African retail group.
  • Anthony Thunström — Chief executive of TFG, the listed South African fashion and lifestyle retail group.

Associated organisations

  • TFG — Founder / co-founder
  • Foschini — Founder / co-founder

Related research

Sources

  1. The Foschini Group Limited, Integrated Annual Report 2026, 2026-07-30. Original source. Accessed 2026-11-06. ↩
  2. The Foschini Group Limited, Corporate history. Original source. Accessed 2026-11-06. ↩