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Johannesburg - Shoppers streaming over the borders from neighbouring states are causing a buzz in South African and Namibian shopping centres.
In Namibia shopping centres in Oshakati and Oshikango - which are owned by the R3.2bn JSE-listed firm, Vukile Property Fund - are benefiting from consumers from Angola. In South Africa businesses in Musina are popular with buyers from Zimbabwe, and those in Nelspruit with shoppers from Mozambique.
Coronation Fund Managers' property portfolio manager Anton de Goede says that it's because of the economic growth taking place in neighbouring countries while their retail offerings are relatively limited, especially in the border areas.
The buyers are familiar with South African brand names as retailers are well represented in their countries.
Vukile's Oshikango and Oshakati shopping centres in Namibia are flourishing to the extent that the company plans to expand the centres at the request of national retailers.
Vukile CEO Gerhard van Zyl says that in 2008, at a cost of N$30m, the company had already enlarged and upgraded the Oshakati Centre in the Oshakati central business district to more than 22 000 m² by, for instance, installing a new fashion division.
Van Zyl reckons there is further demand for space from South African retailers.
In South Africa the picture is somewhat different and, although the centres close to the borders are also booming, shopping centre developers are less influenced by the purchasing power of shoppers from across the borders.
They are ignoring the phenomenon because it is temporary, reckons Des de Beer, CEO of the Resilient Income Fund. He believes that the neighbouring states will ultimately get their own centres.
The Resilient Group owns the Musina shopping centre which falls within the Fortress Property Fund, as well as the I'Langa Mall, which it is building in Nelspruit in collaboration with the Visagie Trust and the Laeveldtrust.
De Beer says the Musina shopping centre is a good example of how fickle cross-border trade can be. When Zimbabwe was experiencing a shortage of goods, turnover at the centre shot up by 250%, but the fantastic growth in turnover returned to normal shortly thereafter.
For more business news in Afrikaans, go to Sake24.com
- Sake24