A Successful Festive Season for Shopping Malls

Flanagan & Gerard’s property portfolio features high-end niche community centres and dominant regional shopping malls across South Africa. Some of the shopping malls in its portfolio include Gauteng’s Morningside Shopping Centre and The Neighbourhood Square, Mall of the North and Thavhani Mall in Limpopo, Ballito Junction in KwaZulu-Natal, Boardwalk Mall in Gqeberha and Mall of Mthatha in the Eastern Cape. 

Several prominent shopping malls within the Flanagan & Gerard portfolio recorded significant growth in retail sales and consumer foot traffic during the December festive season, further driven by the surge in consumer activity during the Black Friday shopping frenzy in late November. 

To get a true reflection of festive season retail activity, Flanagan & Gerard combines retail sales data in November and December and compares both periods to previous years for a more accurate picture of consumer spending behaviour. 

Retail trading activity across Flanagan & Gerard’s portfolio during this festive season period (November and December), grew on average by 6% compared to the same period in 2023, outpacing the consumer inflation rate in 2024, which averaged 4.4%. Retail trading activity is measured through trading density, a metric for retail spending at shopping malls, which measures sales per square metre.

The success of the season becomes more robust when looking at the individual performance of Flanagan & Gerard’s shopping malls, specifically Johannesburg-based The Neighbourhood Square, which pencilled in a pleasing 17.7% growth in trading activity.

Larger shopping malls in coastal areas also outperformed: Ballito Junction was up almost 7%, Boardwalk Mall grew by 9%, and the Mall of Mthatha was up almost 10%. 

These growth numbers indicate that consumers are still eager to spend, and the strategic positioning of Flanagan & Gerard’s shopping malls caters to their needs. To the latter point, Flanagan & Gerard prioritises constantly enhancing the tenant mix at its malls to improve the consumer shopping experience. 

Mall of the North, for example, expanded its tenant offering in 2024 to include new brands such as Ariana Luxury Boutique, Steve Madden, Le Creuset, Carrol Boyes, and Freedom of Movement. Ballito Junction, Flanagan & Gerard’s largest regional mall, also underwent an expansion in 2024 to introduce Workshop 17, Starbucks, Krispy Kreme, Daniel Wellington, Spitz, and others. Existing retailers Ackermans and Tekkie Town increased their retail space at Thavhani Mall, which also saw new brands opening including Levi's, Refinery, and HomeChoice. International brands, Steve Madden and Lovisa, are set to call Thavhani Mall their home from the first half of 2025. 

A large chunk of the sales generated by the malls during the festive season traditionally come from supermarkets, indicating that consumers prioritised spending on grocery items. Underscoring this, Flanagan & Gerard’s top-performing tenant across its portfolio (in terms of retail sales) was the Checkers FreshX concept store at Ballito Junction. 

Retail sales recorded by tenants at Flanagan & Gerard's shopping malls show that during the festive season, retail categories that showed the most positive growth were clothing (particularly for men, kids, and unisex wear), fast food, health and beauty, gifting, and liquor.   

Surprisingly, the best performing category was cinemas, flying in the face of expectations that watching streaming services would reduce cinema visits in a post-Covid era. Although coming off a low base following a slow recovery from being shut during Covid lockdowns, growth of cinemas at Flanagan & Gerard malls was nearly 100% in 2024 compared to 2023. 

“We suspect that in addition to the return of some good content, which movie house owners and the general public have been patiently waiting for, the growth of cinemas had a lot to do with the seasonal weather, where some parts of the country experienced lots of summer rain,” says Paul Gerard, MD of Flanagan & Gerard.

In November and December, 16,7 million customer visits were clocked across the Flanagan & Gerard shopping mall portfolio, compared to 16,5 million in 2023 — an increase of 1.1%. This aligns with the trend established over recent years, with shoppers’ spending and basket sizes increasing at higher rates than foot traffic.

The popularity of convenient delivery services, such as Checkers Sixty60, Woolies Dash, and Pick n Pay ASAP, is one contributor to fewer shopping mall visits. Shopping mall owners and managers are facing the ongoing challenge of finding unique ways to keep malls relevant in the ever-changing landscape of consumer behaviour.

Continuing its commitment to enhancing tenant mixes and delivering exceptional consumer experiences, Flanagan & Gerard’s objective for 2025 is to forge ahead with new projects that expand its shopping malls and introduce exciting new tenants. 

The Mall of Mthatha, co-owned with Vukile Property Fund, started its renovation in 2024 and will continue into 2025. New escalators from the basement parking area are being added, as well as a new supermarket, Dis-Chem store, new restaurants including Spur and News Café, and more fashion and service stores.

  

Boardwalk Mall will undergo a mini expansion around the precinct by various stakeholder partners. Capital Hotel has commenced construction, new retail will be built into the Sun Park, padel courts and a drive-thru will also add to the mix. Boardwalk Mall stands to benefit from the increased amenity and resulting foot traffic around the precinct. 

While a carefully selected, well-matched tenant mix will never go out of style, the retail experience is evolving with rapid technological developments that improve the shopping journey, engage consumers and create memorable moments.

Says Gerard: “Our ever-present strategy is working along with our amazing partners to ensure our malls are dominant in their trade areas and increasingly improving the overall shopping experiences. Great leasing makes for a successful mall.” 

Flanagan & Gerard Property Group

Paul Gerard, Managing Director

Tel: 010 590 4867

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