The new Melrose Arch Piazza

Last week's relief over the drop in the repo rate is being countered by this week's rise in petrol price (again), but I suppose the monetary scales have to stay balanced by some form or another so let's not whine too much. Instead, let us know how well you're faring with the new cut - or whether you've noticed it at all - through our latest poll. And if we didn't have enough reasons to spend our hard-earned cash, the launch of several new malls around the country have given us plenty more, with the opening of the Melrose Arch Piazza in Gauteng, East London's Beacon Bay Crossing, and the Cape's new beachfront offering, Eden on the Bay, last week. Though I love the smell of a new mall in the morning, I can't say much for the destruction of prime shoreline to aid such a mercenary venture... but who I am to go 'green' when there is money to be made and keep to be earned...? POCit's MD, David Reynders, on the other hand, is putting in effort to save us some pennies by urging the Reserve Bank to liberlise payment systems, thereby making it faster and cheaper to bank. This would in turn open doors to the banking world for a large portion of the previously 'un-banked' in the lower income group. Cheaper banking rates; getting your salary on time, every time; any payment going through immediately, no matter which bank you're with... What a fantastic idea! Who's with us?

Shan Radcliffe, Retail editor retailnews@bizcommunity.com Responses to this column welcomed in our new online editor's column archive.