A new shopping mall in Tongaat, KwaZulu Natal has opened its doors to the public.
After 10 years of development purgatory, the oThongathi Mall opened its doors at the start of the month, bringing 18,000 square metres of retail space to the people of Tongaat.
The mall has has taken a long time to reach its opening day after development on the space was shut down following a collapse in 2013 that left two dead and many more injured.
The development changed hands over the years, causing more delays, before it was ultimately bought and completed by BBB Properties over the last year.
Shoprite is an anchor tenant at the mall, and in a first for South Africa, the retailer has launched both a Shoprite and Checkers brand store for the area in the same mall at the same time.
The mall also has other tenants such as McDonald’s, Spur, OK Furniture, Ackermans, Specsavers, Clicks and points of presence from the major retail banks, among others.
Grand-reopening
While the province is getting a new mall, another retail centre is also re-opening following almost two years of closure.
Bridge City Shopping Centre in KwaMashu, owned by the Futuregrowth Community Property Fund, officially reopened on 6 April 2023, following its closure in July 2021 as a result of extensive damage and looting during the nationwide riots that year.
The 40,000 square metre regional shopping centre, which is managed by Capital Land Asset Management, originally opened in 2009 in the centre of Bridge City, a mixed-use precinct which
connects the communities of Phoenix, Inanda, Ntuzuma and KwaMashu.
It was developed with the objective of stimulating economic growth and empowering these communities through improved access to public transport, employment opportunities, services, and retail offerings.
However, after suffering damage during the 2021 riots, the full closure and internal reconstruction of the shopping centre was required.
During this time, the mall also gained some further enhancements.
Bridge City Shopping Centre is a double level, enclosed centre with anchor tenants Shoprite, Superspar and Woolworths positioned on each end of the shopping centre.
The tenant mix has been strengthened with existing and new tenants, as well as the establishment of fashion nodes, a banking hall on the upper level and a food court on the lower level.
Free WiFi facilities are available throughout the shopping centre and provide free access to the internet for the community.
While South Africa has seen a host of new shopping malls crop up over the last year, a key trend among the new developments is that many are being built in remote and rural areas of the country.
According to developers in this space, there is no sign of these developments slowing down, despite the economic pressures facing many households and businesses.
Even with load shedding and the prevailing power crisis, alternative energy such as solar, or mitigation measures such as diesel generators are being built into these projects.
Read: A look at the new shopping mall opening in South Africa in December – with even more planned for 2023
