{"id":881206,"date":"2026-10-23T15:11:22","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T13:11:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=881206"},"modified":"2026-10-23T15:42:26","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T13:42:26","slug":"south-africas-largest-and-busiest-shopping-malls-named-among-the-top-in-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/881206\/south-africas-largest-and-busiest-shopping-malls-named-among-the-top-in-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Largest and busiest shopping malls in South Africa named among the top in the world"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Two of Johannesburg’s biggest and busiest <\/strong><\/a>malls, the Mall of Africa and Fourways Mall, have been awarded gold awards at the international Solal Awards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eastgate Shopping Centre, Sandton City, and Gateway Theatre of Shopping were also among the local malls that were acknowledged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Solal Awards recognise excellence in marketing across the retail, leisure, and mixed-use destination sectors, including shopping malls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The awards are named after French developer Jean-Louis Solal, who is credited with bringing North American-style shopping malls to Europe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Solal Awards, Jean-Louis Solal was known for his innovations in design, tenant mix, and brand experience, which is why this awards scheme is named after him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“He was one of the first to see the importance of retail marketing as a means to help drive spend and asset value,” said Solal Awards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rankings for these awards are based on metrics such as excellence, innovation, and effectiveness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Solal Awards explained that the entries were judged multiple times by a range of 20 marketing experts from around the globe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It said that the trophies were awarded based on the judges’ total scores, which allowed for several bronze, silver, and gold winners in each category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The awards were announced at the Solal Awards Marketing Conference and Gala event on 13 October 2026 in Budapest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mall of Africa won a gold award for its HAIR-itage pop-up campaign, which was held in September 2025 to honour the country’s heritage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mall partnered with Creme of Nature to celebrate “individuality and culture through hair.” The mall’s retail space was transformed into a pop-up salon, offering free hair styling sessions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We are incredibly proud to share that Mall of Africa received its first Gold award at the prestigious Solal Awards, held on 13 October in Budapest, Hungary, for our HAIR-itage Pop-Up campaign,” the mall said in a social media post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The awards received 127 entries from 18 countries and 56 companies, and were open to marketing teams, managing agents, asset managers, developers, owners, and marketing agencies worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This international recognition celebrates the creativity, innovation and impact of our campaign. This is a significant milestone for Mall of Africa, showcasing African creativity on the global stage,” said Mall of Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa’s malls in the spotlight<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

South Africa made a significant impact at the 2026 awards gala held in Budapest. The country received nominations and wins across nine shopping centres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These include Mall of Africa, Fourways Mall, Sandton City, Gateway Theatre of Shopping, Eastgate Shopping Centre, Bedford, Cavendish Square, East Rand Mall, and Liberty Midlands Mall. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

EBM Group emerged as the leading property management and marketing company responsible for the majority of these successful entries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa earned three Gold Awards, which reflect high scores from the judges. Mall of Africa won Gold in the Brand and Tenant Partnerships category for its HAIR-ITAGE Pop-Up Experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fourways Mall secured Gold in Public Relations for its Destination Fourways Media Day, and Redefine Properties received Gold for its multi-centre campaign, Battle of the Choirs, in the Tactical Activation category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The retail hubs in South Africa also excelled in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Sandton City received two Silver Awards in CSR for its community-focused campaigns, A Beacon of Hope and Words that Heal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gateway Theatre of Shopping was awarded Silver in CSR for its Reach for a Dream programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa’s standout entries focused on local culture, social causes, and community heritage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, the campaigns Words that Heal at Sandton City and Reach for a Dream at Gateway emphasised Mental Health and Social Impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below is a table of the South African award winners<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Campaign Title<\/th>Shopping Centre \/ Mall<\/th>Company<\/th>Category<\/th>Award Achieved<\/th><\/tr>
HAIR-ITAGE Pop-Up Experience<\/strong><\/td>Mall of Africa<\/td>EBM Group<\/td>Brand and Tenant Partnerships<\/td>Gold<\/td><\/tr>
Destination Fourways Media Day<\/strong><\/td>Fourways Mall<\/td>Fourways Mall<\/td>Public Relations<\/td>Gold<\/td><\/tr>
Battle of the Choirs<\/strong><\/td>Joint Centre Campaign<\/td>Redefine Properties<\/td>Tactical Activation<\/td>Gold<\/td><\/tr>
A Beacon of Hope<\/strong><\/td>Sandton City<\/td>EBM Group<\/td>Corporate Social Responsibility<\/td>Silver<\/td><\/tr>
Words that Heal<\/strong><\/td>Sandton City<\/td>EBM Group<\/td>Corporate Social Responsibility<\/td>Silver<\/td><\/tr>
Reach for a Dream at Gateway<\/strong><\/td>Gateway Theatre of Shopping<\/td>EBM Group<\/td>Corporate Social Responsibility<\/td>Silver<\/td><\/tr>
The Scoop Shop Easter Activation<\/strong><\/td>Eastgate Shopping Centre<\/td>EBM Group<\/td>Tactical Activation<\/td>Silver<\/td><\/tr>
Lego Biggest Build Ever at Gateway<\/strong><\/td>Gateway Theatre of Shopping<\/td>EBM Group<\/td>Brand and Tenant Partnerships<\/td>Bronze<\/td><\/tr>
Eat Out at Eastgate<\/strong><\/td>Eastgate Shopping Centre<\/td>EBM Group<\/td>Strategic Marketing<\/td>Bronze<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mall of Africa and Fourways Mall have been awarded a gold award at the international Solal Awards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":768909,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2113620716130021701","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2246579859495746","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18415260529087981","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[19746,11178,20851,26928],"class_list":["post-881206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-fourways-mall","tag-mall-of-africa","tag-shopping-malls","tag-solal-awards"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=881206"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":881316,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881206\/revisions\/881316"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/768909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=881206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=881206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=881206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}