Rising retail vacancies are often viewed as a sign of weakness in South Africa’s property market, but they can also create opportunities for occupiers who know how to negotiate.
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Samuel Theu, national property manager at Atlas Finance, has a unique perspective on this shifting landscape. Having spent years on the landlord side at Growthpoint and City Property, Theu moved almost a year ago to representing a national tenant. The shift has given him valuable insight into how landlords assess vacancies, where they may offer concessions, and what makes an occupier genuinely valuable.
"The spaces many businesses are avoiding today are often where the biggest opportunities lie," says Theu. "If you understand how landlords think and what they need from a quality tenant, you approach negotiations very differently."
At a time when many financial institutions are reducing their physical footprints in favour of digital channels, Atlas Finance is expanding its branch network. It will open its 300th branch this month and has plans for around 50 more by the end of 2026. That expansion has given Theu a front-row view of where value is emerging in South Africa's retail property market.
He identifies five opportunities occupiers and landlords should be paying attention to:
1. The balance of power has shifted: South Africa's property market has created a growing pool of retail and commercial space that is proving difficult to fill. For landlords, every vacant month represents lost income, making flexibility increasingly valuable.
That has shifted negotiations well beyond rental rates. Tenants who understand the landlord's commercial realities are finding room to negotiate lease terms, fit-out contributions, lease flexibility and commitment periods that would have been difficult to secure just a few years ago.
The opportunity lies in approaching negotiations from the owner's perspective rather than focusing solely on reducing rent.
2. Invest the savings where customers notice them: Negotiating better lease terms only creates value if the savings are invested wisely.
Rather than allowing lower occupancy costs to simply improve the balance sheet, Theu believes they should be channelled back into the customer experience through quality shop-fitting, comfortable environments and better climate control.
For customer-facing businesses, the physical environment influences confidence, trust and ultimately performance.
There is also an upside for landlords. A well-designed, professionally fitted tenant lifts the appeal of an entire retail node, making surrounding space more attractive to prospective occupiers.
3. Look beyond traditional location metrics: Many property decisions still rely heavily on demographics, footfall counts and income profiles but these measures do not tell the full story.
The Atlas Finance team maps how customers actually move through communities, following transport routes, township corridors, peri-urban centres and neighbourhood shopping destinations rather than simply measuring where people live.
Accessibility is no longer just about distance. Transport costs, travel time and even mobile data costs all influence whether customers will visit a branch.
This movement-based approach often identifies opportunities in locations that appear weaker on traditional screening models but perform exceptionally well because they sit naturally within customers' daily journeys.
As financial institutions continue consolidating branches, these overlooked locations are becoming increasingly important in maintaining access, convenience and trust for underserved communities.
4. Consistency creates value: For many businesses, a visible and permanent physical presence does more than support brand awareness; it builds familiarity and credibility.
Customers who repeatedly see the same branded branch in the same location develop confidence in the business, particularly in sectors where trust is central to customer relationships.
The benefit extends to property owners too. Long-term, well-maintained occupiers help stabilise retail nodes, strengthen surrounding tenant demand and improve the attractiveness of neighbouring vacancies.
5. The next opportunity is in new formats: The next phase of retail property growth may not come from traditional shopping centres. Smaller-format branches, satellite locations and modular buildings are opening opportunities in communities where conventional retail space is limited or simply does not exist.
At the same time, the company is using AI-supported lease vetting to accelerate site assessments and shorten the time between identifying a property and opening for business.
Reducing the period between handover and trade benefits both landlord and tenant by bringing rental income and customer activity into the property sooner.
While much of the market continues to focus on rationalisation and consolidation, the biggest opportunities often emerge where others see decline.
Atlas Finance’s own growth reflects that philosophy. The business began from a single office in Johannesburg's Trust Bank Centre on Eloff Street in 1994, at a time when many believed the city's CBD was losing its future. More than three decades later, the company continues to expand its physical network.
"Brick-and-mortar is not legacy infrastructure," concludes Theu. "Used strategically, it remains one of the most underrated growth engines in the market."
