Gauteng retailers star in coveted awards

Left to right: The Food Lovers Market – The Wedge: Grant Davidson, Mark Marshall, Ben Rubin, John Quinn.

Fruit & Veg City Food Lover’s Market in The Wedge scooped the prestigious title of the Gauteng Retailer of the Year at the regional Special Star Awards, an initiative by the South African Council of Shopping Centres (SACSC).

These awards recognise and celebrate retailers and service providers who have delivered exceptional levels of service, thereby adding significant value to South Africa’s shopping centre industry.

Winners of the coveted SACSC Special Star, Footprint Marketing Awards and Retail Development and Design Awards for Gauteng now go on to contest the nationwide Spectrum Awards, which honour the best of the best among South African shopping centres and their individual retailers. The Spectrum Awards will be held under the auspices of the SACSC at Summerplace, Johannesburg, in November.

The SACSC Spectrum Awards pay tribute to exceptional innovation, creativity and vision across all disciplines and sectors in the South African retail industry.

“The exciting number and quality of Gauteng entries this year were underpinned by extraordinary innovations,” says Amanda Stops, General Manager of the SACSC. “They typify flair, detail and passion for retail and customer service.”

Competing with other excellent national and local retailers in Gauteng - including the likes of Cape Union Mart at Sandton City which won the national retailer larger than 500sqm category, Pandora at Menlyn Park Shopping Centre which won the national retailer smaller than 500sqm and Tiger of Sweden Melrose Arch, The Piazza, which was voted to top independent retailer - it was the combined appeal and excellence of Fruit & Veg City Food Lover’s Market that earned its winning accolade.

Moyo at Melrose Arch triumphed in the Restaurant, Coffee Shop and Bistro category. Other excellent nominees included Signature Restaurant at Morningside Shopping Centre, Eat Pink at Menlyn Park Shopping Centre, and Ciao Baby Cucina at Parkview.

Adding flair to food-on-the-go, Subway at Greenstone Shopping Centre was winner in the Fast Food category, with nominees Chicken Licken at Wonderpark Shopping Centre, Wimpy at Alberton City and McDonald’s at Centurion Lifestyle Centre worthy fellow contenders.

Leading the Service Category for provision of security services, Servest Security at Hyde Park Shopping Centre was announced as winner, with other nominees including Fidelity Security Services at Sandton City Shopping Centre, Africa Security at Parkview and Bidvest Magnum at Melrose Arch, The Piazza.

Service providers’ vital role in supporting a pristine retail environment was recognised with two separate awards for Cleaning and Landscaping awarded to Prestige Cleaning at Melrose Arch, The Piazza and Life Landscapes at Lifestyle Garden Centre respectively. Other outstanding nominees in the two categories included Lami Hygiene Services at Sandton City Shopping Centre, Socius at Parkview, Umhlanga Cleaning Services at Morningside Shopping Centre, Life Landscapes at Irene Village Mall, Servest Landscaping at Stoneridge Shopping Centre and Real Landscapes at Kolonnade Retail Park.

Life Landscape’s accolades in this regional round of awards were extended further with the company also taking top honours as the Overall Service Provider for Lifestyle Garden Centre. 

Parking service provider, Park with Spark at Sandton City trumped fellow nominees in the Parking Management category, being Easipark at Morningside Shopping Centre, and Servest at The Mall of Rosebank.

The awards also recognise excellence in shopping centre marketing through the Footprint Awards and its three sub-categories; Bronze, Silver and Gold. A Gold Footprint Award was presented to Eris Property Group for the “Please donate your small/big/brown/silver change” campaign at Wonderpark Shopping Centre.

Silver winners include Marketing Concept’s “Sandton City Easter World Record” and “Sandton City International Interactive Artwork”, Hyprop Investments Limited for “Club Events at The Mall of Rosebank” and “Hyde Park Corner Re-launch”, Eris Property for “Can Man” at Wonderpark Shopping Centre, The Catalyst for “Festive Gift Guide” and “2 hours to...” campaigns at Brooklyn Mall and Primedia Lifestyle for “Enter our World Brand Campaign” at Menlyn Park Shopping Centre, “Riverside Royalty” at Riverside Mall and “Brand Yourself” campaign and “Aid for Japan” both at The Zone @ Rosebank.

Bronze winners include the likes of Hyprop Investments for marketing at The Mall of Rosebank and Hyde Park Shopping Centre, Mustard Seed Relationship Marketing for East Rand Mall, Eris Property Group for Wonderpark Shopping Centre, Primedia Lifestyle for Jubilee Mall and Marketing Concepts for Sandton City.

The Retail Design and Development Awards, sponsored by Nedbank Corporate Property Finance, finalists were announced. For a shopping centre over 25,000sqm finalists are Mall of the North designed by MDS Architecture and developed by Flanagan & Gerard Property Development and Investment, Moolman Group and Resilient Property Income Fund; and Jubilee Mall in Hammanskraal designed by LP Architects Redevelopment Specialists and developed by Jubilee Crossing (Pty) Limited, a member of the New Africa Development Group.

In the category for shopping centres under 25,000sqm Pick n Pay on Nicol is a regional finalist, designed by Bentel Associates International and developed by Abland.

The renovation and expansion of existing shopping centre category is hotly contested by Castle Walk Shopping Centre, The Zone @ Rosebank II, Eastgate re-positioning phase 1 and Waterkloof Corner.

The store design category also delivered four finalists including Tasha’s at The Zone @ Rosebank, Earth Child Earth Addict at Riverside Mall, Geri at Melrose Arch and Galaxy & Co Jewellers at Mall of the North