South Africa needs more malls

Addressing more than 1200 retailers, investors, leasing agents and shopping centre developers at the 14th annual congress of shopping centres in Cape Town this week, developer Pat Flanagan, who was involved in developing more than a dozen major shopping centres, said developers were seeking opportunities in this growing industry. There was still plenty of room for growth, he said.

It also emerged at the conference that:

• Annual sales at the more than 1617 retail facilities amounted to more than R524 billion;
  
• These centres provided more than 17million square metres of retail space;
  
• The retail sector contributes almost 14% of the total gross domestic product;
  
• About a million people are employed in these retail stores throughout the country;
  
• Households support on average four different grocery stores a month; and
  
• About 60% of the population is urbanised, "meaning that most of the 20-million rural inhabitants are still in need of better retail facilities".

SACSC congress chairman Julie Hillary said: "We felt the time was right to shift the industry's attention away from surviving the global economic crisis to looking for fresh growth opportunities and cutting-edge insight."

Source: Business Times