Mr Price Deals, Specials & Catalogues

A successful mass-market retailer offering quality clothing at an affordable price.

Mr Price (now styled as MrP) sells fashionable clothing, footwear, and accessories for men, women, and children targeted at the mid- to upper income groups (LSM 6-10). The company was founded by Stewart Cohen and Laurie Chiappini whose previous experience working in clothing retail stores had created a desire in them to open a factory store that sold quality apparel at affordable prices. Their idea was to keep the cost structures of the running the business low, and to make low margins at high volumes. The first store opened in an old Bakers Biscuit factory in Durban in 1985. The first few stores were franchised because the entrepreneurs didn’t have the funds to own them outright. In 1986, Laurie and Stewart formed a consortium with BoE and acquired the struggling John Orr’s Group. Having the financial backing of BoE allowed the businessmen to open more MrP factory stores and buy back the stores that had initially been franchised. By 1991, Laurie and Stewart had full control of the company that they’d started when they bought out BoE’s stake. MrP stores grew rapidly with 237 store opened by 1995.

With its dominance as the top casual wear retailer sealed in South Africa, MrP started to expand into other markets and its first store was opened in Namibia. Thereafter, growth into the rest of Africa accelerated. In 2012, the MrP online store was launched and became the most searched local retail brand on Google only 7 months after its launch. In 2014, MrP online shopping was extended to the NIgerian market. The company decided to test the Australian market by opening 2 stores in Melbourne in 2015. The retailer has won numerous awards including being named the “Coolest Clothing Store” in the annual Sunday Times youth survey, a position the company has held for 4 consecutive years

MrP sells the most jeans out any clothing retailer in South Africa. It’s own brand of RT Jeans has sold in excess of 17 million pairs of jeans since 1998.