New shopping mall launching in South Africa at the end of the month

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10-10-2024
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New shopping mall launching in South Africa at the end of the month

Theku Mall in Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal, will open later this month and will nearly double the size of the previous retail centre.

Exemplar REITail, McCormick Property Development, Open Studio Architects and Mike Buyskes Construction are building the 22,591 sqm Theku Mall in Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal.

The new mall will be anchored by a 4,200 sqm Superspar, with other retailers on board, including Studio99, Skipper BAR, PEP, Tekkietown, Postlink, Nedbank, Pedros and the Hungry Lion.

Truworths and Identity will also open in the mall in Q1 2025.

The new development will add 10,000 sqm of gross lettable area (GLA) to the previous Theku Plaza, but some of the existing Plaza development has been lost to create the new mall.

McCormick Property Development’s Jason McCormick said that Theku Plaza was opened in 2013 and has always traded strongly, meaning that expansion was on the cards.

However, the Covid-19 outbreaks and the 2021 July riots led to delays.

The expansion has, however, made progress, with it set to open on 31 October 2024.

“As always, these developments are a partnership between the tenants and ourselves. A big thank you to all the brands taking part in this expansion. I do not doubt that you will make more than make your budget,” said McCormick.

The new mall’s location is interesting in terms of rural development. Although Newcastle is the most industrialised area in Northern KZN, it still feels rural, given its proximity to farms.

For a developing country, South Africa, especially Gauteng, is home to many shopping centres, but many developers are now moving to more rural areas.

In 2022 and 2023, many smaller shopping centres opened in rural areas, giving many people in the country access to formal, centralised shopping experiences. The trend seems to be confined.

Retail strength

The push into rural areas comes amidst an improvement in the retail sector.

According to Stats SA’s latest data, measured in real terms (constant 2019 prices), retail trade sales increased by 2.0% year-on-year in July 2024.

The largest positive contributors to this increase were:

• General dealers (4.4% and contributing 1.8 percentage points); and

• Retailers in pharmaceuticals and medical goods, cosmetics and toiletries (5.9% and contributing 0.5 of a percentage point).

The largest negative contributors were retailers in hardware, paint, and glass (-6.3% and contributing -0.5 of a percentage point).

That said, adjusted retail trade sales decreased by 0.2% in July 2024 compared with June 2024. This came after a 1.6% month-on-month increase in June 2024 and 0.5% decrease in May 2024.

On the positive side, retail trade sales increased by 2.4% in the three months ended July 2024 compared with the three months ended July 2023.

In addition, seasonally adjusted retail trade sales increased by 1.5% in the three months ended July 2024 compared with the previous three months.

Stats SA said that the most significant contributors to the increase were retailers in textiles, clothing, footwear and leather goods (5.6% and contributing 1.0 percentage point) and general dealers (0.9% and contributing 0.4 of a percentage point).