Retail

South Africa’s biggest mall is bouncing back

Kirsten Minnaar • 30 May 2025

After some difficult years, Fourways Mall is finally making a comeback with increased footfall, new retailers and an updated look.

Fourways became the biggest shopping mall in the country after an expansion in 2019, which cost over R1 billion, increasing its size to a gross lettable area (GLA) of over 178,000 square meters.

However, this move was not successful in stemming the property’s decline. Vacancies went up, and foot traffic went down. At the same time, the Covid-19 pandemic meant that consumers significantly reduced their time spent shopping in malls.

In 2023, the mall’s vacancy rate increased to 8%, compared to only 3% in 2021. Rent per square meter also declined from R298 to R262 during the period.

Its fair value shrank from R9.6 billion in 2020 to R8.04 billion three years later, and its performance continued to deteriorate.

Accelerate Property Fund, which co-owns Fourways Mall with Azrapart, had to take drastic action. So, they teamed up with Flanagan & Gerard as asset managers and Moolman Group as the property managers.

In a recent media briefing, they revealed the steps they had taken to address the mall’s negative perception and turn it into South Africa’s premier shopping destination.

There were several major issues they had to solve. Many of these are related to compliance and behind-the-scenes challenges which weren’t necessarily visible to customers.

For example, roof leakages were a big issue. They had to resurface the entire roof and fix watermarks. They are also working on installing a 50,000 m² roof structure on the upper-level parking deck.

Once completed, it will house a 6.3 MW AC/8 MW DC solar plant, the largest retail solar installation in South Africa.

However, the issues also extended to the customer shopping experience, and they needed to implement changes to lure customers back and encourage retailers to stay or return.

A major one was lighting. Fourways Mall is notorious for its dark lighting, which detracted from the entire shopping experience and was particularly problematic in the parking bays.

According to Paul Gerard, Managing Director of Flanagan, dark lighting in the parking bays and stairwells created the perception that the mall was unsafe, even though this wasn’t true, and the mall has always had top-notch security.

So, they spent over R24 million on lighting alone, replacing all of the mall’s lights with bright LEDs and ensuring that everything from the bathrooms to the parking lots was brightly lit.

Parking

New entrance by Fourways Mall’s Uber drop-off area

This wasn’t the only problem related to parking at the mall. Many customers had complained that parking was confusing, and they struggled to find where they had left their cars.

To fix this, they simplified the level numbering system and added different colours to make floors and parking bays easier to find. They painted columns in the parking lot accordingly and added letters to make navigating it even easier.

A more complex issue is that the way parking was allocated in the mall didn’t make sense. For example, the taxi rank was by the entrance of Woolworths, which didn’t align with the interests of the commuters or the shoppers.

The group moved the taxi rank to a lower level. They also transformed the entrance near Woolworths into a “VIP” parking garage, which offers bigger parking spaces and walls featuring graffiti art, at no additional cost.

This has had a noticeable impact on Woolworths, which was struggling. As of January 2024, it was still trading below 2019 levels.

The introduction of VIP parking encourages shoppers at the upper end of the market to return to Woolworths for their shopping. This change has already resulted in an increase of around 30% for Woolworths.

However, this also has another benefit. Usually, customers have a specific spot where they park every time. Adding these nicer parking bays encourages shoppers to try different parkades.

This exposes them to different parts of the mall they may not have encountered otherwise and drives foot traffic in areas that may have been quiet otherwise.

Further boosting traffic to Woolworths, the group introduced padel courts, “Match Padel”, to the parking bay where the taxi rank used to be.

It houses eight padel courts, six double and two single, and is open from 06:00 to 22:00 daily. Courts can be booked using Playtomic. They also introduced Admyt, a ticketless parking service to bring back upper-market shoppers.

Intentionality in selecting retailers and where shops go was a big theme for the Fourways revival. For example, a certain area of the mall has been dubbed the “Wellness Hub”.

Here, shoppers can find various athletic clothing brands and a brand new Planet Fitness, set to open its doors in August.

Several new shops have also been introduced, such as Baglios, Spur, Xpresso, and BOA Beauty Bar. Other new stores are set to open this year, such as Shift Espresso Bar, a popular coffee shop in Cape Town.

They also implemented changes to the area outside of Bounce, which wasn’t being utilised. Today, it has been beautified and transformed into a drop-off area for Uber and ride services, further enhancing efficiency at the mall.

They added signage to make it easier to navigate the mall itself, which will be completed in the next two months. The group is also working on rolling out an app directorial, allowing shoppers to find stores using their phones.

These changes have had a positive effect on both retailers and customers. From December 2023 to May 2025, vacancies dropped from 24% to 13%.

As of May 2025, 20,783 m² GLA of new leases and 50,260 m² lease renewals have been concluded. From December onwards, customers have also started returning to the mall. Now, footfall averages 1.2 million people a month.

Challenges remain

While progress has been made to fix Fourways Mall, problems remain. Not only are they battling the public’s negative perception, but they are also up against a changing retail environment.

Retailers are shifting to opening smaller stores in more convenient locations, and many experts also say that the market is reaching a point of oversaturation.

Although Fourways Mall has the benefit of a central location, customers in surrounding areas have plenty of other options, including the Mall of Africa, Sandton City and Rosebank Mall.

Fourways Mall is now easier to navigate than previously, but as the country’s biggest mall, this will likely always be a challenge.

However, while the mall’s size is a major obstacle, the asset managers have embraced it as an opportunity for differentiation.

They have the space for offerings like Bounce, padel courts, adventure golf, a shooting range, and go-karts, which sets them apart from their competition.

Starting on 1 October, the mall’s operating hours will also be extended, with free parking from 17:00, which the team hopes will lure those working nearby.