Dion Wired’s 50-year business comes to an end today
The chain was found to be among some of Massmart's 'underperforming stores' during a recent audit.
DionWired’s prices were not low enough and its marketing strategy not compelling enough to take market share from its competitors. Image: Supplied
Following its store optimisation project that highlighted a number of underperforming stores that need to be attended to earlier this year, retail giant Massmart informed shareholders on Thursday that 23 Dion Wired stores would go out of business from today.
The chain, which is owned by Walmart, is yet to decide whether it will close 11 non-performing Masscash stores.
Because the results of the store optimisation project indicated that the store closures could lead to the loss of up to 1,440 jobs, the retailer announced in a statement on 13 January that it would enter into an S189 consultation process in terms of the Labour Relations Act.
Fin24 reports that the company said it is in talks with unions, to mitigate the number of job losses. One of the solutions they are looking at is the possibility of deploying some of the Dion workers to vacant roles within the Massmart Group.
“Since 13 January 2020, management has consulted extensively with the affected employees; organised labour and other relevant stakeholders under the guidance of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration and all options/alternatives in respect of the potential closure of the affected stores have been exhausted,” said Massmart.
Named after its founder entrepreneur Dion Friedland, Dion Stores was founded in 1970. The franchise grew to about 20 stores in 1993 when it purchased by the then three-year-old Massmart group.
Walmart took control of Massmart in 2011 as part of its expansion strategy into the African continent.
(Compiled by Kaunda Selisho)
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