Then, a lull after the maul
THE crowd at the great mall of Midrand has dwindled to a fraction of its opening-day number.
Following Thursday’s 123 000, fewer than half that number of bargain hunters turned up yesterday at the Mall of Africa, Johannesburg’s new R4.9-billion shrine to shopping.
They were lured by discounts of up to 70% on clothing and electronic gadgets, free goodie bags and giveaways, and even free hair blow-drying sessions.
“Game, DionWired and Checkers specifically had the longest queues,” said the mall’s brand manager, Vanessa Fourie.
Demarcated queuing areas with barricades were still in place yesterday morning, despite a drop to 71 000 shoppers by Friday and to 60 000 by 4pm yesterday.
The mall boasts some firsts for South Africa, among them Zara Home, a textile shop, fashion house The Kooples and Mango Man, a men’s fashion shop.
Not all the stores were immediately open for business because of “shop-fitting and construction challenges”.
Some high-end stores, including Hugo Boss, have postponed official launches to give clients an “exclusive experience”.
Police have provided extra security and traffic control since Thursday. This will continue today and tomorrow.
Police dismissed reports of 40 cars being stolen, saying the owners had forgotten where they had parked. The three cars confirmed as stolen were parked off the centre’s property.
The mall is not the biggest in Africa, but Fourie said it was the largest first-phase development of its kind and had implemented “multiple green technologies, including a massive photovoltaic installation” providing solar power to the centre.