Canal Walk shopping centre, Cape Town, celebrates 21 years of retail excellence on 26 October 2021. When Canal Walk opened 21 years ago, it was billed as the most ambitious retail development in Africa and has since proven to be one of the best.
Canal Walk opened in October 2000 with an estimated build cost of R1.3 billion and, at the time, the mall spanned 125,000sqm retail space and 9,600sqm office space. It was acquired by its current co-owners Hyprop Investments (80%) and Ellerine Bros Ltd (20%) in 2003 and has consistently grown in popularity, relevance, and size to become one of the most successful shopping centres in the country. The centre has evolved and expanded to meet shopper needs and retailer concepts, extending and updating its offering. Today, the retail icon stands at 149,069sqm gross lettable area.
Over the last 21 years, Canal Walk has continued to bring its customers new store openings, fresh facilities and its industry-leading eco-innovation, as it continues to adapt to the evolving needs of its customers and the changing retail landscape. The super-regional has also kept pace with rapidly-advancing technology, such as offering customers free uncapped WiFi.
“The past 21 years have been full of exciting highlights at Canal Walk. The mall has enjoyed the love and loyalty of customers from across Cape Town, the Western Cape and further afield, and earned and retained the respect of the retailer community. We are excited to be celebrating our 21st anniversary. It is a great opportunity to extend our appreciation to our loyal shoppers - the most important ingredient in our success - and to thank everyone who has supported and partnered with the mall on this amazing 21-year journey so far. All our tenants have been integral to Canal Walk’s success story, but special mention must be made of those who have been with the centre for all 21 years,” says Gavin Wood, CEO of Canal Walk Shopping Centre.
Key to Canal Walk’s success are its excellent accessibility, superbly convenient trading hours from 9am to 9pm daily, and wide variety of brands, leisure, entertainment, and convenience, all located under one roof.
This mall that first opened with a one-of-a-kind, majestic shopping and entertainment experience, is still innovating, improving and delighting guests by adapting and evolving with exciting retailers. Its scale, success and agility have continuously secured Canal Walk highly sought-after tenancies and leading brands - many being retail firsts for Cape Town and even the country.
Other brand-new stores to open at the mall in 2021 so far include the Adidas Women’s Store, Birkenstock, Trecastelli, Vuse, Calamari Fisheries, Under Armour, De Jagers, and Nicci Boutique. In addition, Diesel, Foschini, Fabiani, Seattle Coffee Company, Crocs and @home all opened in new locations in the mall. Keeping pace with the latest trends, Tread+Miller, Superga, Sportscene, Bargain Books and Samsung introduced their latest store concepts to the centre, Shesha extended to introduce a Hoops Lounge to its store, and Birkenstock opened in a pop-up store
There’s even more to look forward to at Canal Walk in the next while, some highlights include Clicks Baby opening, Total Sports getting bigger, Exact relocating and Rochester joining the Boulevard stores to complement the offering of stand-alone flagship retail. Zara will be opening at Canal Walk in early 2022, offering its women’s, men’s, and kids’ ranges.
Canal Walk’s impressive success isn’t built on retail and leisure alone. The role it plays for its community and in its city makes it a real asset. The centre’s text-book location is the key to its success. It is central to the Century City development – a 250ha business and lifestyle precinct with a mixed-use urban environment which combines office, retail, residential, and leisure components – which is being developed around the mall by Rabie Property Group, and at the same time growing Canal Walk’s primary shopper market. Canal Walk also benefits from excellent access directly from the N1, and is centrally situated to the Cape Town CBD and surrounding suburbs.
For making the Mother City greener and more environmentally sustainable, the Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA) awarded Canal Walk a 5-Star Existing Building Performance v1 green rating last year. Contributing to its eco-friendly operation are its waste yard with on-site recycling and composting, which diverts refuse from landfill. It has also added greater water-efficiency to its operations by using grey water, and adding more water-efficient features to its bathrooms.
Every detail is considered in creating an excellent experience at Canal Walk. It’s bathrooms recently received a deluxe makeover, the parent and child facilities were also updated to create calm and comfortable spaces and, with assistance from the community, it introduced a world-class Salaah Room for the convenience of Muslim guests.
Over the years, Canal Walk Shopping Centre has developed a reputation for its exciting, ever-changing line up of award-winning promotions and live events, which add to the exceptional overall Canal Walk experience. So, it will come as no surprise that Canal Walk is celebrating its 21st Birthday with lots of entertainment, competitions and highlights throughout the month of October.
“I have no doubt that the next 21 years will be as exciting and rewarding for Canal Walk as the past 21 years,” says Wood. “The solid foundations built over the past two decades, and our deep collective commitment to service excellence and meeting the needs and expectations of our customers ensures that Canal Walk has a very bright future indeed.”
