Top South African shopping mall damaged by massive hailstorm recovering
Most stores in the Festival Mall in Kempton Park are open and trading normally after the damage caused by a massive supercell hailstorm in December 2025.
Festival Mall is a popular shopping centre in the East Rand, located close to OR Tambo Airport and easily accessible from the R21 and various other highways.
The mall is owned and managed by Growthpoint Properties, an international property company with assets in South Africa, Eastern Europe, Australia, and the UK.
It is the largest South African primary REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE).
Festival Mall is one of Growthpoint’s biggest assets. The centre focuses on convenient shopping and entertainment and offers an Olympic-sized ice rink.
The mall features a strong selection of major retailers, including Checkers Hyper, Pick n Pay, Woolworths, Game, and Edgars.
Festival Mall offers a wide array of eateries and fast-food outlets, including Mugg & Bean, Panarottis, Spur, and Nando’s.
As the shopping centre was ramping up for the festive season, a series of severe thunderstorms caused significant structural damage to Festival Mall.
Extreme hailstones and heavy rain caused sections of the Festival Mall roof to fail, affecting the area between Woolworths and Edgars.
The roof damage forced Festival Mall to temporarily close while experts assessed the damage and safety concerns.
“An extremely severe rain and hail storm in the Kempton Park area resulted in damage to sections of the shopping centre’s roof,” it said at the time.
“The mall was closed at the time of the storm, and no one was injured. Mall management and security reacted immediately and alerted the authorities.”
It’s said that the teams assessed the damage and began planning repair work to ensure that the mall can reopen safely as soon as possible.
“Safety is, and always remains, our top priority. The mall will be closed until certified safe to reopen,” it said on 1 December 2025.
Festival Mall recovering after the damage
On 3 December 2025, Festival Mall opened all entrances and parking areas for shopper access, despite power outages in the surrounding areas.
Over the next days, most stores were opened and started operating normally. These include prominent retailers like Checkers, Dis-Chem, and Game.
“Together, we’re rebuilding, and the momentum is growing daily. Festival Mall is operational and welcoming you back,” it said on 11 December 2025.
A week before Christmas, it said that most of Festival Mall is open. Only a few stores were not trading over the festive season.
BusinessTech visited Festival Mall in Kempton Park in February 2026 and found that most of the mall was operating normally.
However, a group of fashion and lifestyle retailers remains listed as “Temporarily Closed” due to the damage.
Access to some financial services at the mall also remains restricted while internal repairs are finalized.
The recovery process has been phased, with management focusing on securing the roof’s main structural integrity.
This had to be done before allowing individual tenants to begin internal shopfitting and restoration.
Stores and financial branches which are temporarily closed include Absa, Foschini, Jet, Markham, G Star Raw, Fabiani, and Milady’s.
Others which remain affected by the damage are Relay Jeans, Side Step, The Fix, Truworths, Edgars, and Woolworths.
Photos of the Festival Mall in February 2026
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