Shoprite and Checkers sell award-winning shopping centre in the Cape

Shoprite Checkers is selling the award-winning Drakenstein Centre (Drakenstein Sentrum) in Paarl, Western Cape, to FPG Holdings.

The Drakenstein Centre is a 9,000-square-meter shopping mall owned and developed by the Shoprite Group.

The project was designed and overseen by SVA International, South Africa’s leading architecture and urban design firm.

The firm completed and handed over the shopping centre to its owners, Shoprite Checkers, in October 2021.

The Drakenstein Centre is situated on the corner of Wemmershoek and Lustigang Roads along the Winelands corridor which connects Paarl with Franschhoek.

It is an important retail node for the existing surrounding developments, including the Boschenmeer Golf Estate and Val de Vie.

The shopping mall positions itself as offering a boutique retail offering, including fashion and footwear, health and beauty, home and décor, and food and beverages.

The brands include Starbucks, Woolworths Food, Clicks, Rain, Sorbet, Wellness Warehouse, Boorlegger, and Whitehouse.

Checkers is an anchor tenant in the mall. In November 2021, it opened its state-of-the-art supermarket at the Drakenstein Centre in Paarl.

It created 182 new jobs and elevated the customer experience by introducing in-store services, a strong emphasis on fresh food, and greater convenience. 

The Checkers store features a Krispy Kreme coffee shop, a chocolatier bar, a sit-down sushi bar, a honey bar, stone-baked pizzas, and a dedicated health and wellness section.

It further offers artisanal breads, over 400 local and international cheeses, and wines from over 100 leading estates.

The South African Council of Shopping Centre’s (SACSC) Annual Retail Design and Development Awards (RDDA) recognised the centre’s great design.

Drakenstein Centre was named the best new shopping centre development in the 2022 SACSC awards.

It also achieved recognition as a finalist in the 2022 Steel Awards, presented by the Southern African Institute of Steel Construction (SAISC).

Shoprite Checkers selling the Drakenstein Centre

The Competition Commission has recently approved a deal in which Shoprite Checkers plans to sell the Drakenstein Centre to FPG Holdings.

FPG Holdings, which is buying the mall, is a wholly owned subsidiary of FPG Property Fund, which is, in turn, owned by FPG Investments.

It is a private property fund that purchases, invests in, and constructs commercial and residential properties in South Africa.

FPG Holdings invests in rentable office, retail, and industrial properties in the Western Cape, Northern Cape, Gauteng, and North West.

FPG Holdings’s retail projects include Paardevlei Sentrum, Blue Downs, Stelmark centre, Somerset Square, and Moreleta Corner.

It has a strong focus on the Western Cape, which means the Drakenstein Centre first well into its portfolio.

The Competition Commission said the proposed transaction is unlikely to lessen or prevent competition substantially and does not raise public interest concerns.

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