After a week of clearing up, shop-fitting and replacing appliances, the Hirsch’s Superstore at Springfield Park that was looted and trashed by vandals last week is up and running and ready for business! The Hirsch’s branch was amongst several stores in the area that were vandalised and looted during the week, and it is the first to re-open. Commented Margaret Hirsch (Executive Director of Hirsch’s) at the re-opening of the store this Friday “We were determined to bounce back – and thanks to a massive staff and community effort, we have done so! I am so proud of our team and would like to thank everyone involved in helping to get us back to normal.”
Surveying the unprecedented damage that was caused by the looters when the Hirsch’s team arrived at the store last Friday was a heart breaking experience for the Hirsch’s family and their staff. As she helped sweep up the tonnes of shattered glass and damaged appliances that were too heavy for the looters to take out the door, and general debris that was part of the mayhem, Margaret said “We watched the whole thing on CCTV. It was soul destroying. It took 22 years of hard work to build up this branch which is one of our flagship stores in KZN – and it was wrecked in an hour. We were determined to re-build the branch as soon as we possibly could.”
A WHOPPING R20 million is the estimated value of stock looted from the store, not to mention the computers, switchboard, phones, general systems and other goods – and the loss of turnover was also considerable.
Commented CEO of the company, Richard Hirsch “In 1998 when we opened our Superstore store in Springfield Park it was the first of our stores that saw the concept of suppliers having their own stands, and it really put us on the map for being different to everyone else in the appliance industry. After the devastation from last week, we were determined that we would bounce back – and we have. we are very excited to be re-opening our oldest Hirsch’s Home store – revamped, restored, refreshed and ready to serve our customers again!
Stay tuned to our blog for exciting recipes, networking sessions, product knowledge and much more.
Much Love,
Margaret Hirsch