Ballito Junction Regional Mall opens

Owned and developed by the consortium of Menlyn Maine Investment Holdings and Flanagan & Gerard Property Development & Investment, Ballito Junction Regional Mall is the major expansion of an existing 10,000sqm shopping centre, which has grown eight times its size, to a massive 80,000sqm of world-class shopping.

With its sheer size, shopping and leisure variety, unique attractions, and all-encompassing services and amenities, Ballito Junction is positioned to serve the large cross-section of shoppers. This gives it a dominant position and super-regional pull.

Besides its wide-ranging shopping experience and top-notch retailers, the mall is designed to be a real asset for its community – an expanding community that had become sorely underserviced by retail.

“Ballito Junction Regional Mall offers the ideal shopping and entertainment for its area. It is also an exceptional development and reflects the latest in inspired mall design and retail innovation. It delivers a compelling, easily accessible, one-stop shopping experience right to the doorsteps of the residents of KwaDukuza for the first time,” says Patrick Flanagan of Flanagan and Gerard. 

The mall’s development is a major private investment that stands to benefit its community. It brings with it increased economic prosperity by creating jobs and keeping retail spend local. The mall worked closely with the KwaDukuza Municipality to ensure that local job-seekers could benefit from the jobs created during its construction as well as the sustainable jobs which it has created for its ongoing operation.

“Ballito Junction has become a major stakeholder in this great community. We look forward to continuing to contribute as a valuable member of this community, which has supported us every step of the way,” adds Flanagan.

Residents and retailers alike have welcomed the shopping centre’s development, especially with its strong focus on serving the retail needs of the local permanent population.

A sensational selection of six anchor retailers plus a diverse mix of over 200 shops, restaurants, and services eagerly invested in Ballito Junction Regional Mall to be closer to, and better for, their shoppers in the area. 

In fact, Carl Jankowitz of Menlyn Main Investment Holdings explains that demand was so strong the development was extended by 15,000sqm during its construction phase to create more space to meet retailers’ demand. 

The breath-taking contemporary mall features an impressive line-up of anchor tenants: Checkers, Woolworths, Edgars, Pick n Pay, Game and Dis-Chem. The anchor retailers are complemented by a full range of fashion, clothing, footwear, sportswear, wellness, health and beauty, gifts, furnishings, home décor, cellular services, outdoor goods and more. It also features a full house of local banks.

A highlight of the mall, Ballito Junction Urban Eatery, opens a whole new world of sensory experiences in a refreshingly different setting. From its magnificent six-metre-high feature window, Ballito Junction’s Urban Eatery looks out to the north over the undeveloped green parklands of Simbithi Eco-Estate and beyond that, on a clear day, to the Indian Ocean.

It is packed full of new names, unique attractions, retail firsts for its region and flagship offerings. It is home to the mall’s magnificent selection of restaurants, fast foods and cafes. Adding to its leisure and entertainment choices Ballito Junction also offers a state-of-the-art Nu Metro cinema complex and an all-new and awesome 22 Jump Street trampoline park.

Its superb location, off the major N2 highway, gives Ballito Junction excellent ease of access from its immediate vicinity as well as to its north and south, and even inland. It has dedicated access around the traffic circles of Leonora Drive, off both Ballito Drive and Simbithi Drive, as well as from Ballito Drive itself.

Ballito Junction Regional Mall also offers first-hour-free secure undercover parking, completely interlinked parking levels, generous parking bays close to its mall entrances, a drop-off and pick-up zone, and special links for public transport and pedestrians.

Inside, Ballito Junction Regional Mall is a fresh, exciting shopping experience. It forms easy shopper flows with visual appeal created by bright naturally-lit high-ceilinged air-conditioned malls lined with large, modern shopfronts.

"Ballito Junction Regional Mall is a shopping experience of distinction for the community of KwaDukuza and the entire ILembe District. It is an asset that everyone can be proud of," says Flanagan. 

Jankowitz adds: “It is incredibly rewarding to bring this project to a successful completion and welcome everyone to the mall.”

Ballito Junction was officially opened by the Mayor Cllr Ricardo Mthembu and the Honourable Minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi. The ribbon-cutting ceremony was attended by the owners, professional team, local and provincial government officials and dignitaries, as well as thousands of enthusiastic shoppers who came to shop at the new shopping centre.