MILLIONS of rands were spent to restore the Berea Centre after structural damage and looting devastated the local mall during the unrest in KwaZulu-Natal in July, 2021.
The Berea Centre was the last centre to be hit in the area and looters stormed its gates at 12:00 on July 12.
Speaking to the Berea Mail, the co-directors for the centre, Greg Bath, James Jarvie and Brett Snyders, recounted the repair process that followed. The centre remained closed until July 27, and repairs were completed on September 10, almost two months after the KZN unrest broke out.
Bath said the roller doors were broken down as looters gained access to the centre and the shops inside. Later that evening, the directors found that a sprinkler head was broken.
“At 04:00 (on July 13) there was a fire and we had to reactivate the sprinkler in to save the centre. We really want to thank the fire department. It was under 10 minutes from the time the call was logged until they arrived. They were able to contain the fire. There was extensive damage, contained to Shoprite, which has now been reinstated and fully upgraded,” said Bath
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Before the unrest, the biggest concern at the centre was petty theft.
“Our brand promise to our customers, when we bought the centre five years ago, was: convenience, security and value. In terms of security, we really concentrated on bag snatches and card swipes. That was quite a big problem, although we have almost eliminated it completely. We never contemplated a mass looting. We really were unprepared for that – all we could do was close the centre. Now we have learnt from other shopping centre owners and changed the protocol a lot,” said Jarvie.
Picking up the pieces
The directors visited the centre with quantity surveyors on July 15 and repairs began on Friday, July 16.
“As a cumulative figure, the total cost in terms of reinstatement of the centre was around R16 million,” said Bath
Jarvie added, “We realised there was going to be a massive demand for glass. We contacted our suppliers and paid a deposit to make sure we were at the front of the queue.”
According to the directors, the first store to re-open was Boxer Superstores, which sustained the least damage. The final store to open was Shoprite, where fire broke out and destroyed the store.
“All the centres in the area were looted, so, getting access to groceries and essentials was difficult (for the community). Our focus was to get things up and running as quickly as possible,” said Snyders.
Impact on tenants
While repairs began and stores re-opened, many tenants were devastated by the looting.
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“It was incredibly traumatic for most of the businesses. For many tenants, this one store was their only business and their families survive off of it. We could replace the glass in the shop fronts, but they had to replace their stock. That was really tough for a lot of tenants. They were devastated, they had no cash, they would just put a little stock out at a time. You might have a store open, but they would only be earning 10 % of what they would usually earn because they didn’t have the funding to restock,” said Jarvie.
Despite the destruction, Synders said tenants have since re-opened.
“There wasn’t a mass exit of tenants. People wanted to rebuild and commit to servicing the customers in the area,” he said.
Bath said the centre tried to assist tenants in need.
“We initially asked some of the smaller tenants if they had the funds to re-open and a working cap to continue. We categorised tenants according to this, and James met with them. We tried to put packages in place and assist where we could to get them going again,” said Bath.
Jarvie said he was impacted by the stories he heard.
“When I interviewed the first tenant, they told me how heartbreaking (the looting) was and how devastated they were,” he said.
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