Developers in South Africa now prefer smaller shopping malls

A number of developers in South Africa have now decided to shift focus from big, expensive shopping malls to small and convenient ones.

This is according to a few retails experts who argue that in the rural and semi-rural areas of Gauteng, much of the area is over shopped and that it would be very unsafe to construct new huge mall developments while consumers come under pressure in a kind of slowing economy.

The Managing Director of Finlay & Associates, Marianka Victor concurred with the reports and said that developers in South Africa now prefer smaller malls.

“We are finding opportunities involving smaller malls and I am putting most of my effort in areas which have not had quality shopping centres before, I have found higher living standards measure shoppers have started to use these new centres,” Marianka said

She further said that most of the malls he was managing were between 4,000m² and 8,000m² and the company’s largest project was a new 20,000m² centre in Botshabelo in the Free State. “The Botshabelo mall is the largest mall in that rural area and it’s already 85% let,” she pointed out.

The Head of Development company Flanagan & Gerard, Mr. Patrick Flanagan, explained that there were large rural communities in the region whose shopping wants needed to be met.

“A number of rural communities do not have the facilities, infrastructure and development including shopping places or malls, that allows them to be economical with their time, transport and other costs.

“These communities are hence forced to travel to more powerful nodes to fulfill their requirements. The result is likely to be that more centres will be developed to cater for these large rural communities and this will put further pressure on the more established urban areas as the rural folk will no longer need to cater for these.

All the more reason that care should be exercised by all involved in developing and investing in shopping centres in urban environments,” he said.

The creation of many malls in Africa has generally sprung up throughout the years creating lots of jobs especially for the locals; however, they come along with a backdrop of rising debt levels.

Biggest malls in Africa

South Africa boasts of largest malls in Africa including mall of Africa and Durban’s Gateway Mall.