Zimpapers Logo

Kudzaishe Muhamba Features Reporter

If you have been out of Harare for a while, chances are that upon return you will be surprised by the changing face of the city.

Not that there are new high rise buildings, no. It is the rise of shopping malls that is likely to astonish a returnee.

Harare is fast becoming a city of shopping malls, almost every street now boasts of its own, sometimes more than one.

Where you used to find the once mighty and intimidating three-storey Barbours Departmental Store on First Street Mall, you will discover there is now a shopping mall portioned into small cubicles, with hundreds of operators.

And the shopping malls come with interesting names — Shasha Mall, Galaxy Mall, Kwame Mall, S. Nyahokwe Mall, J Way Mall, Mega Mall, Kinglands Mall, Elle’s Mall, Takue’s Mall etc.

There is even one named PaDubai Mall, perhaps a marketing strategy to attract customers in the guise that products sold there are imported from Dubai.

The shopping malls’ sizes differ depending on the location, some are big, creating a good ambience for shoppers, while others are so tiny that it is difficult for customers to manoeuvre.

The trick seems in the owners coming up with small cubicles inside the malls which they lease out to those interested.

This leaves the mall owners with some profit, as they widen the source of rentals through the numerous cubicles.

Seen as empowering the once marginalised small to medium enterprises, shopping malls have become the trend in Harare, and they are indeed trending.

To the general public, the rise of shopping malls is seen as a blessing.

They are considered much more beneficial in that they offer affordable prices and there is the availability of a different range of products.

The malls host small boutiques offering affordable clothing, some coming in popular foreign labels like Gucci and Louis Vitton (but on these, one has to be careful not to end up with a fake purchase).

Some offer imported beauty products, while others specialise in gadgets like laptops, television sets, cellphones and automotive parts.

The range of products available in these shopping malls is so wide that one might not need to look elsewhere after visiting them.

Urban planning expect Percy Toriro says the emergence of shopping malls has transformed the structure and form of the Harare Central Business District (CBD) in several, but significant ways.

“There is now an increase in the volume of both vehicular and pedestrian traffic coming into the central business district area on a daily basis, some being workers in these malls and others being their customers,” he says. “This is causing congestion and overcrowding in the city centre.”

Toriro says existing infrastructure is being strained by the emergence of the shopping malls, that were not on the original plan of the city.

“There is an increase in demand for services because of this overcrowding, but without a corresponding investment in additional services,” he says. “The effect of these developments has pushed out some quality, rich tenants and property owners out of the CBD.

“So, whilst many are coming in, some are leaving. The vacant CBD buildings are occupied by the smaller businesses who cannot afford large spaces, hence the partitioning of formerly large premises into smaller units.”

These smaller units are the sprouting shopping malls.

It seems high rentals, parking fees and the poor state of some buildings has forced companies out of Harare’s CBD, with many purchasing residential properties on the outskirts of the city centre.

They then turn these properties into offices, a development that has seen many businesses operating from “homes” on the periphery of the city centre.

Apart from moving into the houses, some businesses have relocated to office parks strewn across the city to escape congestion in the city centre or just to get a more pleasant environment to operate from.

This phenomenon is not unique to Zimbabwe. Worldwide companies move out to less congested areas.

In South Africa’s Johannesburg, for example, many companies have moved away from the city centre to areas like Sandton.

This movement of traditional operators from the city centre is always followed by a process of renewal of the inner city.

In light of the increasing voids in the CBD, property owners have been approaching the Harare City Council to promote the partitioning of buildings into small shopping malls.

This is in line with market trends that favour small to medium enterprises, which are expected to contribute to the processes of inner city renewal.

But it is the collapsing of traditional departmental stores that has contributed significantly to the rise of shopping malls in Zimbabwe.

It became evident that the departmental stores could not withstand the stiff competition from second hand clothes, when it comes to the management of their clothing sections.

The second hand clothes, often smuggled from countries like China, Dubai and mainly those countries in Asia, come at a far much cheaper cost to buyers.

Some of these second clothing items and other goods, especially the electronic ones, are finding their way into the small shopping malls.

Harare City Council spokesperson Michael Chideme says the partitioning of large buildings into small shopping malls is legal and it is part of the renewal of the inner city.

This renewal is meant to help Harare’s vision to achieve a world class city by 2025.

“Harare has a huge deficit of shopping malls,” says Chideme. “We want more malls and encourage businesses to construct huge multi-use malls.

“Development of malls creates employment, and beautifies the city and this move is in line with the vision of Harare to achieve a world class city by 2025.”

Although the development of shopping malls is seen in a positive light by some, others believe there is a lot that needs to be done to align them with national development aspirations.

Most of those operating the malls sell foreign products, thus side-lining local products at a time there are increasing calls to support the local industry by buying local and selling local goods.

There are also issues associated with smuggling of goods, a move that is depriving the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority of potential revenue.

The smuggled goods are often of poor quality and come at a lower price because the smugglers do not pay duty at border posts.

Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers Association president Mr Denford Mutashu says while the proliferation of shopping malls is a good sign of a growing economy, there is need to enforce rules for them to benefit the country.

“We need to do more on enforcement with regards to standards, health and safety issues that are currently disregarded,” he says. “We are working closely with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development towards comprehensive formalisation of the sector.

“There are no quality safeguards, especially on most imported apparels that are overcharged or sold as original products ranging from clothing, electronics, mobile phones etc. There are some who are so uncanny who import unbranded television sets and simply stick up a brand of their choice like Samsung, yet the model will be a fake one.”

Some of the shopping malls lack proper infrastructure like ablution facilities and other amenities.

Emergence of “runners”

The proliferation of shopping malls has coincided with the emergence of what are called “runners”.

These are people based in foreign lands or those with connections with some living in foreign lands who buy goods and send them to their clients in Zimbabwe.

These so-called “runners” usually use different means to smuggle goods into the country, most of which find themselves on shelves in the shopping malls.

In this game, cross border bus drivers and haulage truck drivers play a major role in the smuggling as they are the conduits for taking the goods back home.

They connect with the “runners” who hire them to carry the goods and smuggle them into the country.

Recently, police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said smuggling across the country’s borders was prevalent and his organisation was investigating several such cases.

Apart from the shopping malls, the smuggled goods also find their way to other places like flea markets.