Stocktake: Retail expansion and extensions

Retailer expansions, new mall extensions, plastics innovation, meme-of-the-week, and international news.

Boardwalk Mall ready for September opening

The construction of the 24,000sqm single-level Boardwalk Mall is 80% complete. After preparing to commence work in February 2020, demolition and bulk earthworks were finally able to get underway from February to April 2021, and construction began in May 2021. With 87% of the labour on site from local communities, Boardwalk Mall in the Eastern Cape is a major development by Flanagan & Gerard Group and Emfuleni Resorts, a subsidiary of Sun International. The R500 million project builds on the success and strong community roots of the landmark Boardwalk Casino and Entertainment World. Boardwalk Mall is an extension and upgrade of the Boardwalk Precinct and is more than doubling the retail space in the precinct. The first phase of Boardwalk Mall opened on 24 March 2022, and the grand opening is on track for 22 September 2022. “Boardwalk Mall is a retail and lifestyle powerhouse,” says Paul Gerard, MD of Flanagan & Gerard. The mall is introducing the first Checkers, Woolworths Food and Dis-Chem stores to the Summerstrand area, while also providing all the convenience and choice of a Pick n Pay and Clicks, and the very latest cinema upgrade from NuMetro. Other retail brands include Sportscene, Totalsports, Ripcurl, Queenspark, Senqu, American Swiss, Exact, Refinery, Legit and Side Step; with food from Spur, Steers, Debonairs, Fishaways, Wimpy, and a McDonalds Drive Thru. Keeping it local, are Hello! It’s Me, Bem Vindo, Friesland Milk Bar, Shark Rock Tattoos, Village Hardware, Paco Taco, Hombakazi and Larpelo Eyewear. More local and independent retail highlights are coming in the mall’s main phase, including home-grown labels MaXhosa with their South African branded high-end fashion, BohoGirl and Obriani. Proudly independent South African brands joining the mall include The Balkan Burger & Deli, Gussies Stationers, @home and Yokico. Watch the latest fly-through.

African innovators on reducing plastic usage

Ten teams of innovators from across Sub-Saharan Africa have been named finalists in the Afri-Plastics Challenge with solutions for reducing plastic usage. Each will receive £75 000 to invest in and develop their ideas. The winner will take home a first prize of £750 000 in January 2023, with the runner-up receiving £250 000 and third place winning £100 000. They include projects to facilitate the reduction of single-use disposable diapers. One such project is Toto Safi, a solution from Rwanda. Toto Safi’s app-based service facilitates the reduction of single-use disposable diapers, a major source of land and marine pollution. Through this app, parents will be able to receive a fresh bundle of clean and sterilised cloth diapers, at an affordable cost. Another solution is ShoppersBag, a solution by Well of Science from Nigeria. ShoppersBags are reusable, recyclable and biodegradable bags that allow people to get paid or earn rewards on every usage. Other teams in the running include South Africa’s Regenize and the Uganda Industrial Research Institute. Regenize’s Zero-Waste Spaza can plug into any existing spaza shop and enables it to become a zero-waste shop where their customers can shop without creating plastic waste. The customers will need to bring their containers to purchase goods supplied by Regenize and stored in secured food-safe containers. Besides reducing plastic waste, it will also enable customers to live a healthier lifestyle. To find out more visit afri-plastics.challenges.org.

New value-focused hub for Eastgate Mall

Eastgate is creating a new value focused hub in the mall, including retailers such as Pep, Pep Home, HiFi Corp, Game Liquor – joining Value Co which opened in August 2021. The new value section is being created near lower level entrance three in order to cater to changing shopper needs and the four new tenants will occupy a further 4 631m2 in this area. “It is important to us that we adapt to the changing needs of our shoppers and provide a retail experience that suits their lifestyles,” said Mike Rodel, asset management executive, Liberty2Degrees for Eastgate Shopping Centre. “We believe that this section of the centre will soon become a popular area for visitors to the centre, with an excellent mix of value-driven retailers and superb product ranges.”

YuppieChef partners with iRobot

Renowned for designing and building innovative robotic cleaning solutions, iRobot has secured an ecommerce/retail partnership with YuppieChef kitchen and homeware platform. Following negotiations that started in February this year, the full range of vacuums will now be available via YuppieChef’s online platform, with brick-and-mortar stores to potentially be added on later down the line. In August last year, Core Group, which represents Apple, Nintendo, and Fitbit, launched iRobot’s line of consumer robots in South Africa. The smart products are currently available through iRobot SA’s website and select online retailers. Mark Goott, from Core Group, is confident that this partnership will be successful as both parties have bought into the vision, bolstered by experience, strong operations, and key resources. Adds Anita Seifart at YuppieChef: “iRobot has a proven track record of delivering products that make consumers’ lives easier. The premium range of vacuums is amongst good company at YuppieChef, and we look forward to this new partnership.”

Massmart opens new DC

Massmart officially opened its new Distribution Centre, in Riversands, Johannesburg. This 75 000m2 warehouse is the second of three new facilities in Massmart’s new centralised network which uses shared distribution centres to serve stores across the entire group. The new state of the art facility has been custom designed to suit Massmart’s needs and will manage the highest volume throughput of all Massmart facilities. In line with Massmart’s supply chain strategy, the Riversands DC is a product-based distribution centre, specialising in high volume, pallet based products. “Over 30% of Massmart stores are based in Gauteng so this facility will give us the opportunity to deliver fast moving products to these stores at greater speed, thanks to the use of full pallets, with no need for re-packing inside the facility,” said Jonathan Molapo, chief operating officer at Massmart. “Every element of this distribution centre is geared towards improving efficiency. From reducing our own energy usage to the operational efficiency of the high volume product focus, Riversands will play an important role in getting the right products onto our shelves at the best possible price for customers.”.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Nike to make full exit from Russia three months after suspending its operations there, the US sportswear maker told Reuters, as the pace of Western companies leaving the country accelerates. Nike said on March 3 it would temporarily suspend operations at all its Nike-owned and -operated stores in Russia in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Nomanini, a fast-growing fintech platform in Africa, announced the launch of a new supply chain finance solution, the StockNow app, that connects financial services and goods providers consumption to serve Africa’s informal retailers at scale. Nomanini’s StockNow solution helps overcome these challenges by providing a comprehensive solution to provide responsible working capital so casual retailers can stock their shelves in a predictable manner. StockNow is currently  rolling out to thousands of casual retailers in Tanzania, with plans underway to scale the solution across the continent, from Mozambique to Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Egypt.

*Additional sources: The Guardian Nigeria, NNN, AdWeek, Total Retail Report, Perch Interactive, Kantar, Onclusive, CMO Council.

Meme-of-the-Week

After the utterly nonsensical story about Ryan Air introducing a ‘test’ for South Africans to prove, they were, well, actual South Africans and not nefarious criminals with fake South African passports, the memes came fast. It all seemed a bit of an Irish Joke, really, in times when the truth is actually harder to believe sometimes than fake news.

This week in numbers

2.49 billion

Africa’s Big 7 show tackled the challenge of affordable and accessible food in Africa during its showcase in Gauteng, 19 – 21 June 2022. Russia’s war in Ukraine has shone a spotlight on the ongoing food security crisis in Africa, as disruptions to international commodity markets and trade flows to the continent have caused the already high food prices to rise further. The UN predicts African population growth of over 200% by mid-century, expecting the continent to have 2.49 billion mouths to feed by 2050; and be home to two out of every five children on the planet. The increasing challenges faced by African leaders in creating a more sustainable, resilient, and equitable food system to feed its exploding population was one of several important discussions held at this year’s Africa’s Big 7 food and beverage trade show.

QUOTE of the week:

“While recent events have taught us to brace for impact at any moment, importers have been stretched to navigate a plentitude of disruptions in recent times and based on current global and local factors; they will further need to balance multiple factors within their supply chain to ensure they remain competitive,” writes Denys Hobson, Head of Logistics, Investec for Business, on Retailing Africa.

Main image credit: Supplied.

*Stocktake is a weekly roundup of current FMCG retailing and brand news, curated and edited by Retailing Africa Publisher & Editor, Louise Burgers. Keep the industry updated and send your announcements and news to: news@retailingafrica.com.

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