Hope, worry as Mlimani City Mall gets new tenant

Dar es Salaam. Mlimani City Mall has a new tenant who replaced the Game Store that closed business in Tanzania last year.

The South African retail giant Game Department Stores closed shops at the famous mall after seven years of struggle in the local market.

The closure came after several other retailers, including Nakumatt, Shoprite, and Uchumi, failed to prosper in the Tanzanian market.

A local retailer, Mr Discount, has now occupied the space that remained vacant for several months in Mlimani City.

Worries have emerged over the business sustainability of the modern shopping mall, with others suspecting the mall’s strategy for tenants could be a challenge.

Property management strategist Mr Andrew Kato said having two anchor tenants competing in a less than 30,000 sqm mall is not a proper tenant mix strategy.

According to him, having Shoppers and Mr Discount, pose a risk to the survival of the two supermarkets. He said the move by Game, which was basically a department store, to turn into a supermarket after Shoprite and Nakumatt closed business, could have caused its failure.

“The (Mlimani City) management would find another department store and not a supermarket,” he said.

He added hat the tenant mix strategy in the area was ideal.

However, the management of Mlimani Holding Ltd. explained that Mr Discount is also a department store.

The mall’s general manager, Mr Pastory Mrosso, said what is happening now is just a soft opening for Mr Discount as it continues to import products.

“After a while, there will be no food items,” he said.

He said that after the closure of Game, many investors showed interest in leasing the space but were not able to open a department store, rather than a supermarket.

“We would like to assure the public that the management will continue to ensure that the focus of Mlimani City Mall will remain the same and may be strengthened further,” said Mr Mrosso.

Commenting on the mall’s progress, he said that the occupancy rate is 80 percent for offices and 99 percent for the residential section.

He also said plans are underway to expand the mall, as a feasibility study is ongoing but subject to the approval of the board of directors.

Tenant mix

A department store is a big retail store that sells more varieties of goods, belonging to different departments.

In contrast, a supermarket is a big self-service retail market that generally sells foods and household items.

For his part, facilities planning, management, and real estate expert, Dr Maulid Banyani said the tenant mix of Mliman City was not conducted properly because the majority of residents still rely on that area to find products that cannot be found in other areas.

“After Game closed, the management was supposed to find another investor who would come with different products,” he said.

According to him, sometimes mall management becomes under pressure to fill the space to avoid losses, thereby causing deviation from the strategy.

A shopper who was found in Mlimani City, Ms Vivian Mhina, said she only cares about the quality of products.

 “We only ask shop owners to bring us quality products; that’s all we want to buy here,” she said.