The state of malls

So yesterday I decided to stop shopping online I go to a mall. What I found was shocking. No lifts. Cabro in disarray. Basically 2 entire empty floors. In the whole mall there’s less than 10 stores still functioning. It’s like being in a ghost town.

Nata muchore, ukanumia?

Wapi huko man

wapi?

So ulikua unataka hii kijiji ikusaidie aje

Which mall? The ones I know are still working

Ata Waterfront Mall inauzwa

I was visiting a friend who had a baby nikasema lemme pass by a mall nimchukulie kitu. I was shocked. The last time I was in a mall was… I don’t remember but it was West Gate and the supermarket on the ground floor was winding up and there were so few people though it was a week day. Since then I shop from Carrefour online. I was just wondering how other malls are fairing? So they are doing as well as ever? Lemme get my 2nd dose of Astrazeneca then I will do a survey before lockdown opens. Now that hakuna jam before 4pm, I can cris cross all over in no time.

Ya mamako ndio tamu.

https://www.kenyans.co.ke/news/64665-billionaire-mugukus-family-puts-ksh20b-karen-mall-sale

Ooitu mukenye, matusi ni ya nini?

Malls are

Setting up a business in a shopping mall is an easy way of becoming broke. Kuna time we had thought of starting a business in one of the shopping malls (name withheld) this was my experience:

  1. Managing agents count the number of square feet occupied, not number of vacant shops - utapata the anchor tenant (mostly supermarket) occupies about a third of that space, thus watasema ati 40% occupied but anchor tenant amechukua 30% (where the 30% constitute 70% of the ground floor). Thus leaving the top floors unoccupied
  2. Except for eateries and banks the mall offered exclusivity to the business, shida ilikuwa the type of biz ungeweka as you couldn’t stock what another biz was selling
  3. Rent is expensive - about 320-500 kes per square foot with the average rent amounting to about 70K per month for the smallest shop. For the biz to sell enough to cover the cost of rent, they must overprice their goods esp boutiques and kitchenware sellers.

Tell finest swine your fellow skunk ghassiah

The reason why they are expensive is because the concept of a mall is a consolidated array of businesses which attract customers, so you can not compare it to a stand alone business. The traffic is high and there is a niche or a target market for example luxury brands or certain franchises that target a certain class. It’s therefore all in one and so it’s convenient for the customers. It can be tricky doing a personal business. It works best for franchises of established businesses and brands. However in the food courts you can pull it off, if you brand correctly. Like that mbuzi place in Galleria where they will sell you quarter a kg of meat for 1k just based on branding and you won’t feel cheated inspite of knowing cheaper places. Some researches show that the mall environment makes people vulnerable to spending more than they would in a stand alone. The music. The lighting. There’s a whole psychology of malls. So maybe you can rethink doing a unique concept based at a food court. Btw the quality of food at most eateries other than Burma and the 4 seasons or Hilton is crap. If you have a good and unique concept and quality and you are on zamzam or jumia or Uber Eats, where your food can get good ratings and free advertising then if it succeeds franchise to other malls so that you become a known brand.

seems you know alot about malls

I will take that as a compliment.

its a compliment my dear…umenijazz

Hata vibanda za wangige zimefungwa…ghaseer

Lakini haven’t you ever asked yourself how come ukienda every mall unapata same brands na wewe ni mwana biashara? Be interrogating things. Mimi it’s my personality I always try to understand the why behind everything.

Two Rivers I bet… Was there last weekend and it simply feels deserted… not well lit in some areas… pavement near the river finished… potholes…