The North West agricultural town of Vryburg is set to get its first enclosed shopping mall with a new 20 000m² centre. The project will be undertaken by leading Pretoria-based shopping centre developers and investors, Twin City Development, in partnership with Vuno Developments. 

Dubbed Twin City Vryburg, the mall is a R290 million development, anticipated to change the face of retail in the town with around 70 stores, restaurants and service outlets all under one roof. It will have three anchor tenants.

Ryno de Leeuw, Chief Operating Officer of Twin City, says the project is still in the planning stage with the mall expected to open in the last quarter of 2021. This represents another significant development for the group.

“Twin City Vryburg is an exciting Greenfields development and is the group’s second foray into the North West province, with Rustenburg Mall set to open in 2020 - a project done in partnership with the Moolman Group. It will bring a modern, one-stop shopping destination to the people of Vryburg and surrounding communities."

The new mall will have a Food Court and water features - firsts for the town and will offer a family-friendly, safe and clean shopping environment.

Twin City has a pedigree in shopping centre development going back some 35 years, having been established in 1984. Today, it has a portfolio of 10 shopping centres, more than 250 000m² of gross leasable area and some 800 leases under management in Mpumalanga, Limpopo and the Free State. 

All this is managed in-house, including Operations, Marketing and Finance/Admin; with less than 1% retail vacancy across the portfolio. The Twin City Vryburg project is the newest retail venture, which will expand the Twin City’s portfolio and geographical footprint to yet another province.

The Vryburg development site, which forms part of the town's CBD, is located on the N18 national road into town. Vryburg is situated in the Naledi Local Municipality and seat of the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District Municipality in the western part of the North West Province. The N14 national route also cuts through the town, which connects North West’s capital Mahikeng (159km away) with the Northern Cape’s capital, Kimberley.

Established walkways already exist to the shopping centre’s development site from the largest township in Vryburg, Huhudi. This means the new mall will provide direct access to pedestrians who currently walk to the town’s CBD for shopping and access to government and other services.

Vryburg is the agricultural and industrial hub of the area. With both the N14 and N18 national highways intersecting the town, Vryburg, therefore, services the region in all directions. However, the existing retail offering in the Vryburg CBD is disconnected and scattered.

The vision for the Twin City Vryburg development is to consolidate retail in the area and attract new retailers that have shown interest in opening shop here. Twin City's track record in the shopping centre development industry also boosts the new mall’s prospects of securing leading retail and fast-food brands as part of its tenant mix.

The mall will have a primary catchment area of more than 14 500 households, while there are over 23 000 households in its secondary catchment area.