Mall of the North emerged as one of the three best performing malls co-owned by Flanagan & Gerard Property Development & Investment by attracting more than 1,1 million shoppers during December. The other two malls are Ballito Junction and Thavhani Mall, also in Limpopo.
Paul Gerard, Managing Director of Flanagan & Gerard said in a media release that the company only develops and invests in dominant regional shopping centres that retain dominance within their trade areas, as well as high-end niche community centres and that strong December retail trade was recorded. “Flanagan & Gerard’s data signals that Black Friday has brought the start of the festive season earlier, spreading shopping across November and December. Electronics and appliances were favourite buys with Black Friday shoppers in November and, as a result, sales in these categories underperformed in December. Over the two final months of 2018, total turnover in the Flanagan & Gerard portfolio of shopping centres was 5% higher like-for-like than in 2017, Gerard said.
“Throughout the festive season it was clear that consumers were discerning in their purchases. Even so, our shopping centre portfolio delivered positive performance, which indicates some confidence for 2019.”
According to Gerard, Game also reported that two of its top-three performing stores on Black Friday 2018 were in Flanagan & Gerard malls, Ballito Junction and Mall of the North. This year, the company is also rolling out the development of Thavhani City, a mixed-use urban precinct around its top-performing Thavhani Mall in Thohoyandou.
“Thavhani City, owned and developed by Thavhani Property Investments comprising local Thohoyandou based company, Zevodox and Flanagan & Gerard, is designed to be the future economic hub of North Eastern Limpopo. A new custom-built 3 200 m2 first-phase Builders Express opened in the precinct last year. Next for Thavhani City is value retail, major brand motor dealerships and a flagship NHC private medical day care clinic. It will also ultimately include new transport terminals, offices, hotels, community soccer fields and an outdoor gym,” Gerard announced.
Sumari de Ridder, General Manager of Mall of the North said that she is proud of the mall’s performance and stated that its business had grown remarkably on a year-to-year basis.
Story: BARRY VILJOEN
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