[South Africa] Refurbished Menlyn park to become Africa’s largest shopping mall

The refurbished Menlyn park set to open next week is set to become Africa’s largest shopping mall catering to different clientele across the continent.

The refurbished section which costs $174 million include the addition of a 54 028m square meters retail floor, which brought the total to 177 000 square meters of shops.

This will make Menlyn Park the largest mall in Africa, management confirmed has said. The shopping centre will become a strong rival to Mall of Africa in Midrand and Gateway Theatre of Shopping in KwaZulu-Natal, which rank among the largest malls on the continent.

In addition, Menlyn Park will consolidate Pretoria East’s position of having the biggest formal retail space in the country.

An additional 200 stores were added to what was already Pretoria’s premier shopping spot.

“We’ve put together a fantastic tenant mix that caters to all our shoppers,” said Olive Ndebele, general manager of Menlyn Park Shopping Centre.

Ndebele said Menlyn Park would reaffirm its place as the number one destination in Pretoria for the best entertainment and shopping all year round, with special offers, events and pop-up sales and stores to cater for the whole family. Some of the new stores that can be expected include the likes of Zara, a Spanish fashion chain store, and H&M clothing.

Ndebele said many brands were given the opportunity to establish their flagship stores in a larger store offering in a city that was home to 40 per cent of the wealthiest residents in South Africa.

They include Hamleys, a toy store established in 1760 in London. “Finding a location for our flagship store that met all our criteria was paramount to our brand, and at Menlyn Park Shopping Centre we found just that,” said Aurelle Franks, of Hamleys.

These stores are just some of over 500 that can be found. There are also restaurants like Krispy Kreme and Hard Rock Cafe.

Central Park will be an open-air piazza which will be surrounded by various other popular restaurants. The expansion and refurbishment project began in 2013 and also includes 8 250 parking bays, 16 entrances and 12 exits.

During the two phases of the construction, 12 000 jobs were created and the workers have spent about 5 million hours to date on making sure the deadline was reached.

One unique feature will be the VIP lounge which will see VIP guests enjoying the services of a personal shopper while they relax. It is estimated that on average 1.3 million people visit the mall on a monthly basis, each spending about$20 during that visit.

As a re-opening special, the mall will be having a “Black Friday” event on November 25, which will allow shoppers to enjoy massive discounts. Last year saw 68 000 shoppers taking advantage of the discounts; this year 100 000 people are expected.

“We decided to introduce this bargain fest last year and it was hugely successful,” said Ndebele. The centre will also extend its shopping hours from next Thursday to cater to the busy schedules of its customers and will trade from 9am to 9pm every day, except for public holidays, which will see the shopping hours end at 5pm.