The R5bn Mall of Africa opened its doors to the public yesterday witnessing long queues and traffic congestion.
Set in suburban Midrand, the 130,000 square meter super regional mall has 303 stores (269 shops +34 kiosks). According to developers, it is the largest first phase completion of a mall ever in South Africa. It will be the largest in Africa once it is completed.
The Mall of Africa is located adjacent to the Allandale Road exit of the N1 Highway, the first free-flow intersection of its size in Africa. The mall has around 6,500 parking bays, most of which are under cover.
Even before the opening time of 9.00a.m. there were already queues waiting to take advantage of the opening day deals.
International brands at the mall include Inditex’s Zara, Hennes & Mauritz (H&M), Forever 21, Forever New, River Island, Mango, Versace, Cotton On and Starbucks. Local brands like Woolworths, Checkers, Game are also in the mall.
The mall opens as the country’s economic prospects look bleak. Unemployment has increased from 22% in 1994 to 25% at the end of 2014 with approximately 5 million estimated to be jobless, according to the state Statistics South Africa.
According to Reuters, the Treasury expects the economy to grow by 0.9 percent this year, down from 1.3 percent in 2015 and the central bank is expected to raise interest rates further to rein in inflation that has been driven higher by wage hikes, a depreciating rand and surging food prices after the worst drought in decades.
The bank has raised benchmark lending rates by 200 basis points in the last two years and analysts see rates rising even further by year end from 7 percent now.
“Interest rate hikes and slower salary increases will limit the employee’s ability to spend. This is bad news for large item sales like cars and furniture. It is likely that retailers will struggle for real growth in the next few months,” said Mike Schüssler, chief economist at Economists.co.za.
Though it is not quite bright economically, some people believe that the turnout at the opening shows otherwise and this is the beginning of good times for the development of the area.
https://twitter.com/MarkPilgrimZA/status/725582677139705856
Premier Makhura said the opening of the mall was “a great day” which had been anticipated by many people and urged the business community to invest in the province.
“Today we open an important part in the face of Midrand. There’s still going to be 15 000 low-cost houses that are going to be built around this area. Business people, put money into the economy of Gauteng,” Makhura said.
The Mall of Africa is expected to have created 14‚000 jobs and the R511 from Woodmead to Tshwane has been expanded to accommodate the anticipated movement in and around the mall.
Premier Makhura interacting with young people who have benefited from the job opportunities at the #MallOfAfrica pic.twitter.com/4SeAxAza9v
— GautengGov (@GautengProvince) April 28, 2016
