Edgars' empty tomb vacated in Cavendish Connect, Cape Town.
One of the biggest tragedies in the world of South African retail is what's happened to Edgars.
The closure of stores and the constant uncertainty about its future haunt me each time I pass by the locations where Edgars used to be.
The first is at Kenilworth Centre in Cape Town, where Mr Price replaced Edgars, and the second is at Cavendish Connect, which used to be a double storey shop.
A new Paul Simon/Arie Fabian concept store called EGG moved in upstairs late last year but the downstairs in still vacant, leaving a tomb that troubles me each time I see it.
As you may know, Edgars went into business rescue after our five-week lockdown last year and various stores closed round the country.
The lockdown wasn't the sole cause of it but the nail in the coffin. According to
this report on BusinessTech, the lockdown "curtailed a recovery from a 2019 restructuring."
A restructuring that was necessary because of the huge blunders that were made before which unfolded before our very eyes.
I wasn't surprised when things crashed as they did because Edgars went from hero to zero for me in the years before that to the point where I stopped shopping there.
These are the three biggest mistakes they've made:
1. Charging to have an account
This was the first big turn-off that made such a huge impact on me I closed my account as soon as I could.
I can't remember which year it happened exactly, but suddenly, out of blue, they announced that you had to pay a monthly service fee if you wanted to buy on account.
So you literally had to pay them to spend more money with them. I might have been okay with it if they'd implemented it for future new accounts but I found it unacceptable that they totally disregarded their long-time clients who'd had accounts for years.
The cheek of it struck me like a bad reality show and I paid off my account as soon as I could so I could close it.
I've just called to find out if they still charge a fee and they do. R30 a month service fee if you have an active balance. Bah!
2. Going beserko with big name, expensive brands
This change a few years back was mind-bending. One moment the stores offered affordable clothing with an emphasis on the Edgars' in-house ranges like free2bu and the next it was all about big brand names that were much more expensive and overly image conscious.
They undermined their own ranges completely by pushing an agenda of overpriced, international brands that are all about the label instead of the most important thing in fashion: looking good.
I honestly don't care about labels,
especially when they bomb clothing with a name written all over them. I can't stand being labelled in any way so this put me off bigtime.
I also find it a cheek - you're literally paying to advertise for a company that's already made money off you!
3. Misleading Project Runway SA prize and apathetic, underwhelming awarding of the prize to the winner
Project Runway SA winner Kentse Masilo did eventually get a prize but it only happened in 10 stores, the label isn't her own and it only materialised two years after she won!
Edgars' handling of the whole shebang has been dreadful. They could have made so much of it by enthusiastically releasing her range in loads of stores and really celebrating the hook-up with the TV show.
Yes, the show was cancelled after Ndalo Pictures went bang but that had nothing to do with the delivery of the prize nor how Edgars could have used it to boost their flailing profile with a focus on home-grown fashion and pop culture.
This is what the prize was supposed to be, as it was announced in
the call for designers: The winning designs will be showcased at Edgars stores for a period of three months.
You'd think it would have happened a few months after the show ended but nope, they only did it in August last year -
two years after the finale on 2 October 2018. And no, Covid isn't an excuse because they had over a year to sort it out before the pandemic struck.
Also, it isn't solely Kentse's range but rather "
Kelso by Kentse" so they've amalgamated her with their already existing in-house range, pushing Kelso in bold, instead of giving Kentse her own identity as a designer, which is what I expected from the prize.
Even worse though is that it isn't in all stores so her exposure is extremely limited and has no countrywide reach.
I caught up with Kentse late last year to find out what was happening with her prize and discovered that her range is only in these 10 stores: Rand Mall, Mall of Africa, Menlyn Pretoria, Loch Logan, Sandton, Fourways Mall, Canal Walk, Waterfall Mall, Gateway and The Mall Somerset West.
I was very unimpressed when I heard because it's such a half-hearted delivery of a prize, which we've seen too much in reality TV.
It could have been such an exciting, positive and lucrative thing for them if they'd really gotten behind it with gusto and the intention to vigorously promote a young, local fashion designer to people across South Africa but instead they've hidden it away and wasted an opportunity.
I fully believe that these factors have contributed to their current situation, which changes constantly now.
The latest is that parts of Edgars have been sold to Retailability, who bought Legit from Edcon four years ago.
According to
this article on Business Live, they bought 130 of Edgars' 194 stores towards the end of last year so there's hope for the remaining stores.
And I want hope because I want Edgars stores to remain open but they can't keep making the blunders they've made.
How do you feel about them?