Mall of Thembisa | Getting township retail right

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05-11-2020
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Property 24
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The design and setup of this 44 911sqm mall located in the sprawling township of Tembisa in Gauteng, incorporates a hyper-local mind-set, where customers are seen as so much more than just a consumer.

'Locals first principle’

The key question MPD wants to know when it starts a development is “How do we empower local communities to be part of the development” says Jason McCormick.

Through its “local first principle”, cemented in the very beginnings of MPD when his father started the company, has seen “more than 75% of construction work done on the Mall of Thembisa completed by the people from Tembisa” says McCormick.

Breaking the mould of traditional retail development, the mall incorporates a number of pioneering social and community-based initiatives. This includes the prominent positioning of what will be the largest shisanyama in South Africa, offering a triple level, VIP culinary experience within the mall – all run be a local Thembisan.

“We have always supported local business people, and we always try to get local franchisees.”

“I personally road to Ivory Park to go and recruit the owner of Busy Corner to come and open Imbizo,” says McCormick.

Other initiatives set to uplift those in the community include a farming co-operative that will see local farmers in the area provided with the skills and training to supply stock to the restaurants in the mall as well as the opportunity to sell directly to the public.

A ‘Kasi-Colab’ is also in place, which sees local designers and entrepreneurs being provided with a rent free space to display and sell their wares.

“We need more local manufacturing, more local clothing designers. Aspiring young designers will be showcased in one of the most prominent spaces in the mall, needing only to pay lights and water as part of the colab to support SMMEs.

“We’re helping these businesses with the biggest problems they face, which is access to capital and access to market.”

'Sense of space'

Visitors will have more than 140 stores to choose from, including Spar, Shoprite, Roots Butchery and Boxer. The Mall of Thembisa will not only serve the retail needs of the community, but also “pioneer the ‘new normal’ of socially distanced entertainment and public spacing”.

Double volume spaces will connect the entrance areas throughout the Mall and promote visual connection and interaction across the mall space.

'Mall of hope'

Work on the Mall of Thembisa began in the first week of April 2019 and it will open on 20 November, a mere three weeks after its initial opening was delayed due to the Covid-19 Pandemic.

The project has resulted in the creation of in excess of 2 500 jobs during construction, with an anticipated 2 000 jobs created once the mall is open for trade.

Originally named Mall of Tembisa, it was recently re-named to include the traditional ‘h’ in the spelling of the word Thembisa. An Nguni word meaning ‘promise’ or ‘hope’, the Mall of Thembisa embodies this promise of a new dawn and this message is intrinsic to what the development represents to both MPD and to the community surrounding it, adds McCormick.

"The quality and stature of the Mall of Thembisa will entrench it as the ‘Mall of Hope’ in the hearts and minds of the community that shop there."

“Every time that we open a shopping centres we see how we fundamentally change the social fabric of the community that we develop these shopping centres in. It gives us the energy and motivation to go from one development to the next,” says McCormick.

And it was this energy that saw the MPD team push through the challenges it faced during lockdown.

Lockdown delays and silver linings

“The quality of our people has been my biggest takeaway from this entire lockdown. Getting to interact with the foot soldiers on site and realising just how competent our people are. We don’t just deliver shopping centres, we deliver hope and pride in these areas. So when faced with the kind of problem like Covid, everyone knew we couldn’t allow this project to fail.

“As much as Covid forced us apart, it pulled us together. We were drawn into a singular determination and it welded the team together. We were always coherent, focused and organised but when you’re faced with adversity and you need to come through it – and the way that we have come out of it as a unit, is the silver lining for me.”