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Kampala’s Shopping Malls: mixed fortunes for tenants

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Malls such as this one have taken over Kampala skyline for the last 20 years.
Malls such as this one have taken over Kampala skyline for the last 20 years.

A visit to any mall or shopping centre in Kampala is a stark revelation of the type of clientele that buy or obtain services there.

Over the past 20 years this city has acquired hundreds of shopping centres and malls, that decent rental space is no longer a challenge for a budding entrepreneur, hell-bent on providing topnotch services. The structures, a good number not wholly complete, accommodate a number of businesses ranging from supermarkets, banks, bakeries, forex bureaus, beauty boutiques and cosmetic shops. Others accommodate furniture marts, hairdressing parlours, pharmacies telecom company outlets and entertainment places such as cinema and video halls.

Among the shopping malls and centres are Garden City Complex, Game Lugogo, Oasis, Acacia, Forest Mall Lugogo, Ham Shopping Centre, Haruna Shopping and Mukwano Arcade, all owned by local business moguls like Amina Hersi, Godfrey Kirumira, Hamis Kiggundu, Amirali Karmali aka Mukwano among other tycoons.

But all is not glitzy at these malls that are owned by ‘loaded’ fellows, their tenants will tell you.

“We have different experiences but one common denominator is that clients a few, mostly because they think the products on offer are expensive,” says one Sulaiman, a salon owner at Haruna Shopping Mall in Ntinda.

Edith Amanya, who runs a restaurant on the same premises, says their prices are competitive, almost similar to those in other shopping centres. However, both Sulaiman and Edith say not enough has been done by management to popularize the place, for people to know that it is just like any other outlet, with good prices and services.

“It is a new building so it needs to be advertised,” Sulaiman and Ms Amanya say.

At the Acacia Mall in Kamwokya, a gentleman who preferred to be referred as Paul, who operates a tattoo design business called Angels Tattoo said he was enjoying the benefits of locating his business in a plush setting.

“I am able to get good numbers,” he says. And, just like Paul, a lady who operates a Bata shoe outlet says her sales are good. She however, laments that the rent is high, making their products expensive.

It was a different story for David, a businessman operating a boutique called Fashion Statement in Ham Shopping Mall opposite Makerere University Main Gate in Wandegeya, who said that customers are sometimes seasonal. And for David, the dust and noise are bad for his business.

“This is a dry season and we are affected by dust and there is also too much noise because of the many people and cars passing by,” he says. A lady who runs a photo studio on the same mall said her business is disrupted by intermittent power outages.

“The type of business I do cannot go on in the absence of power,” she says.

At Tuskys Supermarket in Ntinda, attendants, there said business was running smoothly with no hardships apart from one employee who said she was uncomfortable because of the heat.

Such is the situation at most shopping malls and centres in Kampala, that tenants and the owners do not know whether to smile or put on a grim face!

 

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