An Itemized list of the top ten biggest malls in South Africa 2019 is of utmost importance for most South Africa citizens or fresh immigrants to South Africa as there is usually a need of getting new products either in their offices, home or for other uses. South Africa has about 2,000 shopping malls, which covers over 24 million square metres of shopping space, thus turning it into one of the most mall-rich countries in the world.

In respect to the latest information gotten from commercial real estate group, CBRE, South Africa ranks 46th in the world for its spread of retail space. Only two cities, Cape Town and Johannesburg, are ranked with the top cities in the world, with the latter(Johannesburg) ranked highest, at 98th overall. Being the economic heart of South Africa, the greater Johannesburg area (including Sandton, Midrand and extending to Pretoria) constitutes for the biggest focus of retail space in the countlry.

No one can ever underestimate the importance of shopping malls in one’s locality regardless of its size as they are all built for a specific purpose and reasons which is usually to satisfy human needs even though our needs are insatiable.

Biggest Malls In South Africa 2019 Top 10

Visiting a mall has its benefits as the shops are housed in a complex. Groceries, food courts, clothes, reading material, shoes, cinemas and entertainment are available all in one spot. You can decide to spend a whole 24hrs at the mall as you shop, dine, watch a movie or play games. They are nice places for meeting friends to catch up over coffee or a meal in the food court. Families are not left out as they arrive for their weekly shopping, eating junks and keeping the kids well entertained at the mall.

Scared of overcrowding, especially on weekends and holidays? The corridors and crowded stores makes shopping very cumbersome and getting a Parking space becomes very tasking.

Not to worry as we bring to you a list of the largest malls in South Africa 2019.

10. Northgate ~Johannesburg

This mall is located in Johannesburg in Northridge to be very precise, in this mall you have the conglomeration of all you need for all activities including special events and concerts.

9. Cresta Shopping Center ~ Johannesburg

This shopping mall was Built in 1976, with a land area of 104,342 square meters, it is situated in Johannesburg. The shopping centre houses up to 243 shops on three levels and is located close to the N1 highway in close proximity to Randburg and Northcliff. Being one of the largest and prominent shopping centres in Johannesburg, the mall boasts of having various attractive fashion stores and brands, entertainment including The Barnyard Theatre, fine dining and take-away food, decor, technology convenience stores and services and many more.

8. Westwood ~Durban

This mall is located in West-Ville in Durban and on the landmass of 109, 000 square meters. This mall have various facilities that makes shopping a lot easier without having to get to the bank before coming to the mall as they have banking facilities as well as car wash and post office.

7. Centurion Mall ~Centurion

The land mass of this mall covers 112,828 square meter which includes in total 2,853 parking area and over 200 shopping stores. Centurion Mall is the ultimate shopping destination that has Anchor Tenants such as
Woolworths, Game, Edgars, Pick ‘n Pay.

6. East Gate ~Johannesburg

When Eastgate opened in 1979 it was Johannesburg’s first ‘super-regional’ shopping centre and it was the largest shopping centre in the southern hemisphere. It still is one of the largest centres in the country, and the fourth largest shopping centre in the Gauteng, after Sandton City , Mall of Africa and Menlyn Park. The centre is close to the R24 airport freeway, between the Johannesburg CBD and O. R. Tambo International Airport. Eastgate Shopping Centre is graced with over 80 000 shoppers on Saturdays and over 2 million shoppers a month.

It includes some nice Stores such as Woolworths, Edgars, Checkers Hyper, Ster-Kinekor cinemas and Dion. A R300,000,000 expansion was completed in 2010, which brings Eastgate to 122 000m². Liberty Life developed it and it is also managed by Liberty Properties, on behalf of the main company Liberty Holdings Limited. The shopping centre provides Bureau de change facilities. The mall’s 300 stores include over 60 fashion boutiques and 13 jewellers.

5. The Pavilion ~Durban

The Pavilion is the second largest shopping centre located in Durban and one of the largest in South Africa. The mall has gone through a lot of expansions. The mall was developed in the early 90s and opened in October 1993 to initially provide 75,000 square metres of shopping space. Eventually, the centre went through six phases of expansion, the most recent was completed in 2014, reducing the floor space to just under 135,000 square metres (1,450,000 sq ft.). It has 285 stores in total.

4. Mall of Africa ~Guateng

Mall of Africa which is owned by Attacq, M&N enterprises, Atterbury Group, and RMB Holdings is a shopping mall located in Waterfall City, Midrand, Gauteng. It is the largest single phase shopping mall to be built in Africa. It has a total retail area of 131 000 square metres, with a gross area of 550 000 square metres. The shopping mall has two main streams of shopping as well as an outdoor restaurant plaza that’s connected directly to the Waterfall City Park. Construction activities began in 2012 and was originally planned to open in March 2016, but was later postponed to April 2016.

Mall of Africa has tenants like Woolworths, Game and Checkers. The shopping mall will also house important stores in South Africa for international brands such as H&M, Cotton On and Forever 21 and introduces new brands like Starbucks, Mango Man,The Kooples, Boutique Adela, Zara Home, Armani Exchange, Under Armour and Soap Stories to South Africa. It has about 50 lifts and 6500 bays for parki

3. Sandton City ~Johannesburg

Sandton City was a twenty-one storey, concrete block shopping centre that opened in late 1973. Sandton City is a shopping mall situated in Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa, founded and owned by the property development company Rapp and Maister, in partnership with brothers Hilliard and Eli Leibowitz, and was later taken over by Liberty Life (now part of Liberty Holdings Limited). The centre opened for business on September 12, 1973 and has a gross leasable area of 128,000 m2 (1,380,000 sq ft) of retail space. The office space plus the Sandton Sun Hotel increases the total area to 215,000 m2 (2,310,000 sq ft). Sandton City and the adjacent Nelson Mandela Square (formerly Sandton Square) combine to form one of the largest retail complexes on the continent of Africa with shops such as Louis Vuitton, Gucci, and other exclusive boutiques–the “richest square mile in Africa”. It is the hub of an area around which Africa’s richest square mile-and-a-half was built.

2. Gateway Theatre of Shopping ~Durban

Gateway Theatre of Shopping aka Gateway is a shopping centre located on Umhlanga Ridge in Umhlanga, north of Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Gateway Theatre of Shopping is one of the top 50 largest malls in the world and the second largest mall in the whole of South Africa. The shopping centre is currently under its 4th and largest expansion in 16 years. Gateway gets more than two million visitors per month. It was designed to look like the Mall of America and West Edmonton Mall centres and was developed by Old Mutual Properties.

The construction and opening of Gateway Theatre of Shopping has also propelled many new developments in the area. Formerly a sugarcane plantation, the establishment of Gateway on the site has led to the development of a new town centre plus commercial and residential developments within the environment. A hotel called the Gateway Hotel is also attached to the mall and is operated by the Three Cities Group.

Gateway has 18 movie theatres, more than 90 restaurants, 6 Nouveau Theatres, indoor fun fair, more than 350 stores, an arcade and theme park, a 4000 sq. metre skate park which was designed by Tony Hawk, a gym, 3 Flow Riders, the highest fountain in Africa, a tenpin bowling alley, valet parking, and a science theme park.

1. Menlyn Park ~Pretoria

Menlyn Park Shopping Centre named after the suburb in which it is situated, was formerly built in 1979. It was renovated in 1988 by Bild Architects. Menlyn Park used to be owned by Old Mutual Properties from London, England, but is now owned by Pareto Limited, a shopping centre investment firm wholly owned by the Public Investment Corporation.

Menlyn Park Shopping Centre is a shopping mall located in Menlyn, Pretoria, South Africa and owned by development company Pareto. This Park is designed around three spaces – the Food Court, the keyhole malls and focal points, and a large internal garden square which is surrounded by restaurants.

Menlyn Park has in total a lettable floor space of 177,000m², over 500 stores, 16 parking entrances, 12 parking exits and 8,250 parking bays. It is situated at the corner of Lois Avenue and Atterbury Road close to the N1 Johannesburg – Polokwane Highway. Since its inception, Menlyn Park has undergone renovations severally. In 1998, Menlyn Park had over 300 stores and 37 restaurants as well as a rooftop Drive In Theatre and a Nu Metro cineplex.

In 2000, the mall underwent expansion again, thereby increasing the floor space to 118,253m² and the store number to 300. In November 2016 the completion of another major expansion took place, which increased the floor area to approximately 177,000m² with 500 shops in total.