New shopping mall opening in South Africa this month

Riverstone Mall in Meyerton, Gauteng, is launching on 27 March 2025, with the new retail development featuring some of South Africa’s largest retailers.

Alley Roads said that the construction of the mall has been completed, with occupational handover to tenants being finalised ahead the mall’s opening.

“We are very excited to have reached this important milestone,” said Ivan Pretorius, founder and CEO of Alley Roads.

“With tenant fit-outs currently nearing completion, we are on track to officially open Riverstone Mall on Thursday, 27 March, bringing exciting brands and a different kind of shopper experience to Meyerton.”

Pretorius added that the mall created 1,200 jobs during the construction phase. A further permanent 250 jobs are expected to be added once trading commentces.

The convenience mall will have a gross lettable area (GLA) of 20,000 sqm, which will boast roughly 53 tenants.

The mall will be anchored by Checkers Fresh-X, Woolworths Food and Dischem, with other tenants including Clicks. Truworths, Mr Price and the Pepkor group.

The mall has over 1,000 parking bays, a food court, as well as two fast food drive-thru outlets.

“Market studies show that Meyerton, centrally located between Johannesburg and the Vaal Triangle, is growing at 2% to 3% annually, and the area plays a catalytic role within the R59 development corridor.

“As part of our strategy to leverage the symbiotic relationship between housing and retail, we have launched a residential development adjacent to the mall, comprising 337 units,” said Pretorius.

“There is also a second development phase planned at Riverstone Mall, comprising 3,000sqm of motor-related retail.”

The developers’ total investment in Meyerton will exceed R600 million over the period. Images of the new mall can be found below:

The mall also forms part of the Alley Roads’ 175,000 sqm development pipeline for townships and peri-urban areas.

The development pipeline will be rolled out over the next seven years. While being mainly in Gauteng, the group will also seek opportunities in the North West, Free State and the Western Cape.

The group will develop rural convenience retail centres measuring between 6,000 sqm and 12,000 sqm as per its development pipeline.

These malls could benefit from South Africa’s improving retail trade sales, which increased by 3.1% year-on-year in December.

Following years of depressed sentiment, the environment for consumers is improving, with inflation reducing steadily over the last year to reach 3.0% in December.

The lower levels of inflation also allowed the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) to cut interest rates three times in September, October and November.

Consumers are also taking out of their retirement savings, with many taking out of their savings pot as per the two-pot retirement savings, which went live in September 2024.