Johannesburg - The Mall of Africa was expecting its fifth consecutive bumper day on Monday, as shoppers continue to flock to the newly opened Midrand shopping complex.
Traffic queued for kilometres on roads surrounding the mall as it fielded a total of 124 000 visitors on its opening day on Thursday.
Brand manager Vanessa Fourie said that by 8pm on Saturday, a whopping 79 500 people had set foot in the mall, excluding the evening’s restaurant trade. This trend was set to continue on Monday’s public holiday.
“I think the public holiday is most certainly going to work in our favour,” she said. Many stores would still be running specials, adding to the mall’s attraction.
“Stores will traditionally run them for the opening weekend. The fact that we’ve got the public holiday, they’re going to ‘maximise on this opportunity.”
No major crime incidents had been reported at the mall over the weekend by the time of publication.
“Security incidents have been reported as petty theft, with no major incidents being reported to our security control room. Four children were reported lost, but were reunited with their parents,” Fourie said.
Police and additional security guards were at the mall to ensure the safety of shoppers.
According to data collected by the mall, 37 percent of visitors had visited more than once over the first three days.
Food outlets such as Wimpy, McDonald’s and Spur were doing particularly well, while shoppers reported queueing for more than half an hour to pay at Checkers.
Metro police chief Wayne Minnaar said they would deploy more officers today to prevent criminal incidents.
“We arrested 40 people for shoplifting on Thursday (opening day) and three yesterday.”
He added there was a steady rise in traffic Friday afternoon.
@Gabi_Falanga
The Star