Mall of the North achieves unprecedented opening retail trade success

Mall of the North, Polokwane

Over a million shoppers spent in excess of R100-million at the new super-regional Mall of the North, Polokwane, in Limpopo, during its first full month of trading.

Mall of the North opened to crowds of eager shoppers on 14 April 2011. Nearly 80,000 shoppers visited the mall on its opening day. This figure swelled to 260,000 shoppers within the mall’s first four days of trading.

Comprising 75,000sqm GLA, the fully-let Mall of the North has delivered the biggest, most comprehensive selection of shopping to Polokwane. Here consumers, for the first time, have access to over 180 new shops offering compelling variety in one breathtaking shopping destination. 

In addition to the enthusiastic welcome by consumers, Mall of the North’s opening trade achievements have been hailed by the centre’s retailers.

“With just a month of trading complete, Game has traded very strongly at Mall of the North,” reports Jan Potgieter, Managing Director of Game.

Potgieter notes that the opening of its store was highly successful, with strong trading from the minute the ribbons were cut at 07h30 in the morning to welcome queues of shoppers waiting to take advantage of the great deals on offer. 

“Mall of the North is well positioned to grow as the region develops. The original Game store in the CBD continues to perform very well, clearly proving that there is a significant demand for Game’s value offers in the growing region,” says Potgieter.

Mall of the North also became home to the fourth Foodco store to open, the first Foodco outside of the Western Cape. Foodco is Game’s new no-frills grocery ‘store-within-a-store’ that offers private brand fresh produce, dry goods and health and beauty products. Foodco was launched in Cape Town last year.

“The original Game Polokwane store is historically one of our best performing stores nationwide. Based on this trading, we are confident that Mall of the North is an excellent choice to continue our expansion of our new store format, Foodco,” says Potgieter. 

Edcon is also impressed with the opening trade of its stores at Mall of the North.

“The opening of Edgars at Mall of the North has been a great success. There was a constant flow of customers through the Edgars store throughout the opening days,” says Michael Pienaar, Edcon Group Property Executive. “Customers clearly appreciated the fact that the mall opened before the Easter holiday period, with a steady flow of Polokwane visitors and customers continuing their shopping at Edgars over the Easter weekend.”

Pienaar confirms that the mall has settled quickly and will, as predicted, be a weekend destination for Edgars with the majority of Edgars’ trade taking place on a Friday to Sunday. Edgars biggest sales during opening trading days came from ladies-wear, menswear and active-wear respectively.

“The store will settle into a trading pattern, which may differ slightly in the weeks ahead, but on an on-going basis, we look forward to an overall gain in customer satisfaction and market share in Polokwane,” says Pienaar.

There is little wonder that these, and other national retailers are raving about their opening performance. Mall of the North General Manager Sumari de Ridder reports department stores attracted the highest customer spend during Mall of the North’s opening month, followed by fashion, restaurants, homeware, sportswear and outdoor, footwear, and health and beauty.

According to Pienaar the opening of Jet was also met with huge customer excitement. “The store managed to achieve sales far in excess of its sales target during the first four days of trade,” points out Pienaar. Jet Mall of the North has continued to trade extremely well throughout the month. 

Pienaar notes that the opening was equally successful for CNA.

“Our new concept Legit store opened at Mall of the North on the 26 May 2011 and we are confident that it too will enjoy the same consumer support,” says Pienaar.

Restaurateurs too are thrilled by the warm welcome that Limpopo customers have given Mall of the North’s appealing selection of restaurants.

The Amarillo Spur signature specification flagship store opened to exceptional trade, according to Spur’s Wouter Mentz. “The the two-level store was full with local people.

It was an amazing sight and a pleasure to serve,” says Mentz. Spur employed approximately 100 people from the region, many who are working in the restaurant trade for the first time.

Mall of the North is jointly owned and developed by JSE-listed company Resilient Property Income Fund, Flanagan & Gerard Property Development & Investment and Moolman Group. It represents the single largest real estate investment and development in the Limpopo province to date.