East London agog for mall opening

Around the clock preparations are under way ahead of the official opening of the first phase on Thursday, 24 September 2009.

About 6500 people are working around the clock to add last minute touches to the mall, the biggest in the province.

The R1.6 billion mall, built by the Billion Group, will open in a glittering ceremony on Heritage Day.

While work on the mall is not completely finished, some stores will open on Thursday and phase two will be ready in March.

The amphitheatre will officially open its doors on Thursday along with Mugg & Bean, Nandos, Steers, Debonairs, Irana's, Woolworths and Edgars among other stores.

And there will also be a couple of stores opening for the first time in East London, including Mr Price Sport, Luella, Spitz, Due South and YDE.

Fashion TV, Cappello's, Friesland Ice-cream Bar, KFC, Cape Town Fish Market, Cappuccinos, Primi Piatti, and Café Bella will open later.

According to Gavin Tagg, of Retail Network Services, some of the food franchisees who were initially going to be tenants were finding difficulty in obtaining finance.

“A few of the food franchisees have found it difficult to find finance, especially as it is difficult to get finance from banks at present, and so more creative ways of securing finance were sought.”

The mall covers 73000m², with 63000m² opening on Thursday while 10000m² will open in March 2010.

About 5300m² of the 73000m² is occupied by a “flagship” Woolworths, which is the biggest store in the mall.

Pick n Pay, which is 4952m² in size, is the second biggest tenant.

On Thursday, 85% of the 175 shops in phase one will open.

Owner of Sisters boutique, Patricia Norris, will open her second store at the mall.

Norris said the new store would be called Hey Sister and they were working around the clock to get things ready by Thursday despite not being completely ready.

They still had some painting to do, as well as displaying stock.

“But it's already looking fantastic,” she said.

Shoppers can also look forward to a one-of-a-kind jewellery store called Silver SenSation Jewellery.

One of the owners, Donovan Bell, said that the store, which would open opposite Woolworths, would feature local and imported silver jewellery.

“It's funky and very nice stuff and a first for East London. It is backed by the Bell group and it's very exciting,” he said.

Close to 3000 parking bays will be available at the mall.

Leading up to the official opening, R40 million has been spent upgrading the Western Avenue bridge section and surrounding areas, and another R30m on rebuilding a portion of Two Rivers Drive past the mall.

Source: Daily Dispatch

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