This is the busiest mall in South Africa – situated in the country’s shopping capital

Despite being the smallest province in South Africa, Gauteng has a disproportionately high number of shopping centres.

According to Lightstone, Gauteng accounts for 27% of the population, but its 1,800 monitored malls mean that it has 50% of the nation’s shopping centre stops and 32% of total mall visit time.

Although there has been a greater push for retail centres in rural areas, the mall craze in the country has still not dissipated in the nation’s economic hub, with several developments still on the way.

Lighstone said that Gauteng has 13 of the country’s 20 most visited malls each month.

Overall, Mall of Africa in Midrand is the busiest mall in the country when it comes to visits and mall durations (counting per visiting vehicle).

Lightstone said that Mall of Africa competes with Gateway Theatre of Shopping in Umhlanga for the number one spot.

The V&A Waterfront and Canal Walk in Cape Town and the Pavilion, Cornubia and Galleria in KwaZulu-Natal also contested for the top spot.

“Mall of Africa is comfortably the busiest mall in the country in terms of visits and mall duration and is followed by Menlyn Park Shopping Centre and Wonderpark Shopping Centre in Tshwane,” Lightstone said.

“Although Wonderpark has more than 180 stores on a single level and is third highest in terms of number of visits, it is beaten by quite a few malls in terms of duration.”

Where the rich spend their time

Mallgoers also spend the most time at the Mall of Africa and Sandton City, followed by Menlyn Park and Clearwater Mall in Roodepoort.

However, the income distribution of visitors at malls differs significantly.

Sandton City and Fourways bring in the largest amount of affluent shoppers, followed by Cresta and Clearwater Mall.

Read: New R1.4 billion shopping mall taking shape in South Africa