Junction Mall Nairobi

When Nakumatt Holdings opened a store at the Junction Mall on Ngong Road, few would have expected it to be an instant hit.

By Karauki Njeru

When Nakumatt Holdings opened a store at the Junction Mall on Ngong Road, few would have expected it to be an instant hit.

But, to the surprise of everyone in the real estate industry, Nairobians literally shopped at this store ‘till they drop.’

Indeed just like the Nakumatt store on Prestige Centre, shoppers seemed not to mind the busy construction that was going all around them as they opened their wallets to pay for their Christmas shopping.

As the Junction Mall nears its official full opening date in April, so is the complete mosaic of the emerging shopping experience in upper class Kenya taking shape.

With the opening of the Junction, the mallification of Kenya is taking shape. The recent proliferation of shopping malls from all around the city is now being taken to represent a collective physical expression of our society’s desire to shop.

Though Nakumatt risked cannibalising its existing store on Ngong Road, Ben Woodhouse, the General Manager, of Knight Frank Kenya, says the possibility of this supermarket being sandwitched between two Uchumi outlets offered an ever worse prospect. That is why Nakumatt jumped at the opportunity to open a store here when Uchumi Supermarkets did not show enthusiasm.

In the last 10 years, three major shopping malls have opened in Nairobi following suburban shift of the Nairobi office market.

"A trend towards decentralised retail provision in Nairobi has led to the old prime pitches of Moi Avenue and the area between Kenyatta Avenue and Mama Ngina Street becoming less popular with the chain retailers," says Woodhouse. "However, the city centre still remains a thriving central location for the smaller scale general trader."

According to Woodhouse, traffic congestion in the CBD and fears over security led to the shift in the early 1980s towards suburban shopping centres, starting with the construction of the first phase of Sarit Centre in Westlands in 1983.

Sarit today is Kenya’s biggest shopping mall with 215,300 square feet of shopping space. The Village Market in Gigiri is the second biggest. Both centres are expected to suffer from increasing traffic congestion and insufficient parking space.

Woodhouse says that the most significant retail development in recent years has been the Capital Centre (122,200 sq ft) on Mombasa Road that is anchored by Uchumi Supermarkets, which has rented nearly half of the space. Capital Centre opened its doors to the public in May 2003.

While The Junction Mall is now the third biggest in Kenya, it is uniquely located in such a way that it could steal valuable traffic from the Yaya Centre and Sarit Centre. The inclusion of Nakumatt as the anchor store now lumps a significant volume of shopping space (over 100,000 square feet of prime retail outlets) in Nairobi on Ngong road, making it one of the most important commercial centres in suburban Nairobi.

Unlike the past where South African retailers have struggled to make significant inroads into the Kenyan market because of their reluctance to pay huge rents, Knight Frank has convinced Stuttafords to take 22,000 square feet. Stuttafords is a major fashion clothes departmental store in South Africa.

With two major anchor stores, Knight Frank’s main worry is to generate enough footfall to generate a good return on this Sh700 million investment (which has been financed by Actis among others).

"It is the first time in Kenya that a lot of thought has gone into enhancing the shopping experience," says Woodhouse. "There are no dark corners where a client is going to pay for less money." The mall features spacious atriums, landscaped grounds, over 400 parking spaces and 30 prime retail outlets. The flow of traffic has also been designed in such a way that shops can be able to convert traffic into revenues.

A lot of attention went into selecting the tenants of the mall. The mall will feature a dedicated media and entertainment centre complete with a modern bookstore with a Dorman’s Coffeehouse inside and a four-screen multiplex—in addition to the two others at Prestige Centre.

Java House is also relocating from Adams Arcade to the Junction.

"We chose our clients carefully so that we cater for the different needs that the clients are looking for," says Woodham.

"We have been impressed by the manner in which our clients have worked to look presentable to the shoppers and the kind of reception the customers have given us is very promising."

While all this may look excess in the face of a recovering economy, the shopping patterns in Nairobi appear to be telling a different story.

The shopping malls have become a very popular with many young middle class Kenyans looking for efficiency and convenience that comes with the increasingly busy lifestyle.

Retails and property developers have taken the cue and manufactured what would be rightly called the shopping psychology with displays, offers, lighting, and beautiful packaging that leaves the shopper with the urge to buy as many items as their hands can carry.

The shops are strategically placed to lure the customers into the diverse range of goods and services. "We look into providing a variety of shops that complement each other," says Nitin Shah, the Managing Director of Sarit Center.

"When we opened the Sarit Center in 1983, we thought that the Kenyan shoppers would jump into the shopping mall idea but on the contrary it took a while for the traditional shopper to embrace the idea," adds Shah.