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‘Colour your World’ is the PNA pay-off line, and when meeting Kingswood resident Louis Fourie, proud owner of six branches of the well-established stationery brand twixt the Garden Route, Klein Karoo and Kimberley, it’s clear his world is colourful by design. When doing some brand stalking on PNA, one learns that there are over 100 independent, owner-managed stores nationwide.
The franchise group has grown from its humble beginnings in 1992 to become a reputable and successful franchise entity. Louis Fourie has lived with wife Erika at Kingswood Golf Estate for the past two years, and his ownership of PNA stores plays no small role in this state of affairs. Having bought his first store in Oudtshoorn before branching out, he says after 15 years of frequently navigating Outeniqua Pass, it was time to move to the mountain’s greener side.
The first-ever PNA store opened its doors in Pretoria in 1992, and when the family Fourie – with son Louis and daughter Mariëtte, then in their teens – moved to Oudtshoorn in 1997, it was the perfect place to buy into this business. The PNA branch in the Ostrich Capital had successfully been plying its trade for a number of months before Louis and Erika acquired it, and is still located in its original spot in the town’s central business hub. ‘We opened the shop as I was not particularly happy with my working life at the time. We wanted to move from Pretoria to the platteland and had been looking at PNA branches for sale, but couldn’t decide where to invest. There were several shops available but when I visited Oudtshoorn on a work trip, and after many prayers for guidance, the decision was made.’
The Fourie children, now 40 and 38 respectively, matriculated from Oudtshoorn High School. Louis Jnr runs a business intelligence consultancy in George, and Mariëtte and husband Jaco live in Bloemfontein, where they manage PNA stores in the Free State capital and Kimberley. Yep, it calls for a weekly 160km drive between the towns, but that’s how this family rolls. On their relocation to George, Louis says: ‘Erika and I got tired of the heat and the drought. We had bought our first shop in George in 2005 and by 2021, with another PNA store in Mossel Bay, we were ready to make the move.’
Cape ancestors, well traveled since
When asked about any ties with the famous Louis Fourie after whom streets in Mossel Bay and Little Brak River had been named, ‘our’ Louis admits he’s not familiar with the familial connection. ‘Our family’s progenitor settled at Wamakersvallei in the Wellington district, and married a lady called Susanna Cordier,’ he says. Looking at the prevalence of his surname in South Africa today, the Fourie ancestors had created children by the dozen in each subsequent generation.
Louis was born in Murraysburg in the Western Cape, but says his family proceeded to live in several towns and provinces thereafter. ‘My father worked in the banking industry, and we moved around quite a bit while I was growing up.’ Both Louis and Erika spent the final years of their school careers in the Free State town of Frankfort, and although they weren’t high school sweethearts, the near peers (there’s a one-year age difference) connected well enough to tie the knot 42 years ago. ‘I did my national service after school and then got my teaching degree from Tuks. After three years of teaching Maths, I realised it was not my calling and joined Krygkor for 12 years from 1986 to 1997.’ But the country’s changed political landscape also brought about changes in the workplace, so Louis bid that industry adieu. As supplementary income source, when the first shop in Oudtshoorn was bought, Louis went back to teaching for some years at the local high school as well as at Principia and South Cape College.
Once the George shop in York Street was acquired, there was no more time for teaching. ‘It was October 2005 when we bought the York Street shop from the previous owner, and in 2015, we opened the shop in Eden Meander,’ explains Louis. In 2021, the Fouries opened a small branch close to Mugg & Bean in Garden Route Mall, and earlier this year they amalgamated the Eden Meander and smaller shop in GRM, and moved into the new premises next to Dis-Chem. But does this owner of six successful PNA stores regard himself as businessman? Through the grace of God, according to Louis. ‘We’ve been truly blessed – not least with wonderful staff. We started off with three helpers in the Oudtshoorn shop, and today 66 staff members are employed in our six branches.’
What’s best about your business?
The Fourie-owned PNA stores – two in George and one each in Oudtshoorn, Mossel Bay, Bloemfontein, and Kimberley – all receive support from its franchiser’s Joburg head office. The main functions of this HQ include national marketing, staff training, supplier consultations, and negotiations with landlords. After so many years of hands-on managing of staff and stores, Louis today works from the comfort of his Kingswood home, checking emails and orders and, every so often, swinging past his York Street and Garden Route Mall stores. ‘Our managers are incredible, so the shops are in good hands,’ he says – then reminisces about the days when one could have a good old bash when opening a new store. Alas, Covid changed all of that: when the Fouries opened their PNAs in Kimberley and Mossel Bay in 2021, it was with masks and without fanfare. A bookish kinda guy, Louis is big on reading matter but reminds that this is not the franchise’s primary focus, stationery and art materials being its priority. He says he tries not to order books close to his heart as these might not be what PNA clients are after. Diaries, study aids, cookbooks and map books are some of the shops’ top sellers. ‘Some people still prefer to navigate with a map book, no matter what Google maps can offer,’ he says.
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The good life at Kingswood
Louis says he plays the odd round of golf but not nearly enough, still being kept busy by overseeing the business. ‘We love the calm atmosphere here and especially the security,’ he says. But the Fouries often leave the estate in pursuit of another passion: birds. Forays to the Cape, Stilbaai, Mossel Bay, and Kruger Park have paid off for Erika and Louis of late. During a night drive in Kruger, they were thrilled to set eyes on the rare Pennant-winged Nightjar, breeding in very few locations in South Africa and spectacular to behold in its eerie dronelike glory.
They were also in the every-birder’s-envy position of being in the right place at the right time at the Liesbeek River in the Cape last year, when a Snowy Egret came to perch right in front of them for a close-up appraisal that very few local enthusiasts have been privy to. ‘Last year, we heard that a Laughing Gull had been spotted in Mossel Bay and so hit the road to see if we could get lucky. It was the first time this bird was detected in South Africa, as far as members of our birding group were aware. We had just arrived when the pretty gull landed in front of us on the harbour wall.’ Seeing that serious birders flock off to faraway locations such as Mozambique and the Caprivi when there’s word of a possible rare sighting, the Fouries count themselves very fortunate for everything they’ve experienced in locations close to home.
The one thing about their travels, says Louis, is that they often miss out on the monthly birding talks by Peter Ginn and other experts at Kingswood. ‘Between the inland shops and meetings at PNA head office and viewing birds, we always seem to be away when these meetings take place.’ But that is just about the only small niggle in Louis Fourie’s life. ‘We live in the most beautiful environment and I’m excited about the future of George and the Southern Cape … and for the new road to Gate 4 to be built!’ he says with a twinkle in his eye.
Memories of Everest Base Camp
In April 2018, Louis did a 13-day hike to Everest Base Camp in Nepal. ‘It was quite cold and exhausting since you climb about 2,500m, but it’s up and down all the time through valleys, passes, and glaciers. It was an incredible experience with the most beautiful nature – those mountains are a sight I will never forget. The flights between Kathmandu and Lukla (one of the most dangerous airports in the world) were also memorable. I was lucky to be spared altitude sickness – quite a few people have died from it during hikes to Base Camp. There are helicopters in the air all the time, transporting either emergency supplies or sick hikers, and casevacs are common on the hike. A moment that will stay with me forever is when I laid eyes on Mount Everest for the first time.
