Maseru Mall Center Manager Baholo Chimombe
Rethabile Pitso
MASERU Mall Manager Baholo Chimombe says the shopping centre now houses a variety of outlets to cater for the different needs of its customers.
Mr Chimombe told the Lesotho Times this week the mall now offers various services in keeping with international trends. Maseru Mall, which is three kilometres to the south of the capital’s central business district, was opened in November 2012. It offers a cross-section of department stores, financial services, clothing, grocery stores, health services, home wear, restaurants and line shops among other services.
“We now offer many services at Maseru Mall, with Botho University and Home Affairs Ministry offices having been launched on Monday,” he said.
“We already have the Lesotho Revenue Authority and several banks operating at the mall. Added to that, plans to establish a casino and laundromat are underway.”
Mr Chimombe said the different services offered by the mall were in keeping with global mall development trends.
“In developed countries, malls now house a variety of facilities under one roof apart from the normal retail shops. So, that is the direction we are heading towards at Maseru Mall. We are happy to offer customers a variety of products under one roof.”
In addition to international outlets, he said the mall also housed locally-owned shops.
“We pride ourselves in having as many locally-owned shops as their international counterparts trading here. Big outlets such as Puretec and Lykagift Nail Bar are just some of the shops that are owned by Basotho,” said Mr Chimombe.
“We are excited to have so many local businesses here, and we continue to encourage more Basotho businesses to come. Last week, the Little Feet Foundation opened a play centre for children as a way of raising funds for orphaned and vulnerable children in the country. The foundation is one of the local projects we have accommodated.”
He said 88 percent of the mall was occupied, adding that their major challenge was retaining tenants in the long-term. Mr Chimombe said most of the tenants who moved out of the shopping centre had failed to pay the rentals.
“Some tenants have moved out because they could no longer pay the rent, but that does not mean the mall is not doing well,” he said.
“Letting tenants who were unable to pay their rent go has been beneficial for the mall because we have managed to avoid high arrears.’
Little Feet Foundation Country Coordinator Rethabile Morake told this paper they decided to move to the mall to raise funds by looking after the children of shoppers at the mall.
“We have used the money we raised to help orphaned and vulnerable children,” she said.
