Malls everyone wants to shop at

Westside shopping mall in Nakuru.

Ever wondered why one shopping mall has high human traffic while another experiences empty corridors and vacant stores?

Architects and shopping mall experts have mastered the art and science of designing shopping malls in a way that provides a superior shopping experience for the customer and provides a return on investment for retail outlets and developers.

The success of a mall depends on its ability to draw traffic to all corners of the complex. This means that the space must be well planned.

With shopping malls mushrooming in most of our cities and towns, there is a need for well-planned and designed malls if the owners hope to have repeat customers weaving through the various stores. Here are the things to consider:

Human traffic flow

Some of the factors that are considered include the flow of human traffic. According to Morrison Wachira of Bowman Associates Architects, the designers of several landmark shopping malls such as The Junction and Galleria in Nairobi, the planning of a shopping mall must be done in such a way as to encourage shoppers to visit every part of the mall.

“In every shopping mall, there is an anchor tenant which is usually a major supermarket chain. Most retail outlets prefer to be close to the anchor tenant as they are assured of traffic into their shops,” he says.

Where a mall has several floors, there must be other sub-anchor tenants distributed within the complex.

The sub-anchors include well known clothing retailers, furniture shops, entertainment spots, cinemas, medical centres and food courts that occupy large floor space and are able to draw traffic to smaller stores. 

Destination outlets also draw in human traffic. These are outlets that draw clients for a specific function such as a banking, watching a movie or seeing a doctor. These kinds of customers don’t mind doing their business on upper floors, as long as there is adequate signage to guide shoppers to these locations.

“Placing ‘see and attract’ facilities such as a cinema hall or a food court on the upper levels helps to directly move human traffic to top floors,” says Charles Ndung’u, a partner at Triad Architects. 

The success of any shopping mall depends on good planning of space and the retail mix.

A mall must provide points of interest in several areas to guarantee traffic within the whole complex and not just to localised areas.

This is done by distributing the anchor and sub-anchor tenants within the mall and carefully considering the locations of vertical circulation elements.

The location of lifts, escalators and staircases is very important in directing traffic. “The location of the mall itself is a key aspect to its success. It should be easily and quickly accessible by both public and private means. If the entrance to a mall is causing a traffic snarl up then it should be redesigned,” says Ndung’u. 

Mall location and size

Though our malls are increasing in size - the upcoming Garden City Mall on Thika Road will be over 40,000 square metres while The Hub in Karen is 60,000 square metres - they are still smaller than Dubai’s shopping malls, which can be as large as 500,000 square metres, says Ndung’u.

“However, an investor’s main consideration is the market that the shopping mall hopes to tap into and the surrounding population. Middle-class neighbourhoods with dense populations are always very attractive to investors for mall construction. Statutory regulations have limits on building size in certain areas, so architects must respect these regulations which dictate the maximum developments that can be done on land of a certain size,” says Wachira.

Shopping malls should not be too high. They should not go beyond three storeys so that accessing them is not labourious. The ground floor and the first floor are key shopping areas and the design should ensure circulation is easy and clear by having strategically located escalators and lifts and proper signage. There should be a visual connection to the upper level shops so that customers can see them.

Experience

“The shopping experience should be thought through to create a comprehensive one-stop-shop, which will attract return clients. Customers want adequate space and variety. The mall should be filled with new discoveries and have key attraction areas such as kids play areas, gardens and water features,” says Ndung’u.

A key aspect that a shopping mall must never overlook is parking.

“Without sufficient parking space a shopping mall will fail commercially. No one wants to drive around for hours inside a shopping mall parking looking for a slot. The rule of thumb is approximately three parking slots for every 100 square metres. Also, the parking sizes and aisles must be sufficient to allow comfortable driving. Inside the mall, parking bays should be large enough to accommodate maneuvering. There must also be sufficient headroom for bigger SUVs,” says Wachira.

“Having parking on various levels such as was the case at Westgate helps people access malls from the top level, hence creating traffic flow to the upper floors.”

At the upcoming Garden City which, sits on 32 acres and which will have over 100 retail outlets, majority of the parking will be at the top,” says Ndung’u.

Wachira says that security must be factored into the mall design; it must have multiple stringent and controlled points of entry and exit. The entry points have to be manned, and a critical design consideration is to provide sufficient slip lanes to avoid traffic snarl-ups as cars are being screened. 

Security in the age of terrorism

There must be multiple alternative exits for safety, which are required anyway in the event of a fire, but would also come in very handy in a panic situation such as a terrorist attack. These exits must have clear directional signage, and be on back-up power.

“Where exits are far apart, corridors and staircases should have pressurised fire protection, which delay the entry of smoke and fire to give people time to evacuate the building,” says Ndung’u.

Security consultants have become big players on development teams and are now advising on appropriate locations for sensitive clients such as banks at the mall design stage.

Budgets have significantly increased with installation of intelligent cameras, scanners, infrared beams, training of personnel and installation of software which can detect and raise the alarm when something unusual happens.

Security expert, Kenwilliams Nyakomitah, who has worked with the Department of Defence and United Nations, says that prior to occupation, the landlord should carry out a security survey audit to fill in any gaps that may have been overlooked, such as safety of occupants and panic buttons at cashiers.

“A building should have a security control room where trained personnel can observe abnormal behaviour in corridors, staircases and public spaces,” he says.

To enhance security in malls, Nakomitah recommends that they be coded using a networked distress system, so that at the touch of a panic button, police and alarm response companies can immediately detect which mall the distress call is emanating from.

Shop front aesthetics

“Landlords should run a security background check on tenants and employees, while tourist police who are specially trained to take care of foreigners can also be employed. Security dynamics are different for enclosed malls; they should have high perimeter walls with electric fencing, concertinas and perimeter CCTV cameras to deter criminals,” says Nyakomitah.

“The aesthetics of the shopping mall are a critical aspect with modern trends dictating a sleek appearance of frameless glass with ‘spider’ connections,” says Ndung’u. 

“Lighting is an intricate and key aspect of architecture and design and must be done in a way that accentuates the building. Interiors and public areas and mall walkways must be inviting and well lit. Due to the high cost of lighting the landlords, architects and engineers must select light fittings that are durable and energy saving,” says Wachira.

Reviving vacant malls

“If a mall is abandoned, a decision should be made on whether to demolish, rebuild or repair based on the extent of damage and the structural integrity of the building. Fire can cause latent defects on the structure, and only a careful audit survey by a professional team of engineers can establish the extent of the damage, and the extent of remedial action required,” says Wachira. 

Ndungu adds: “Though bullets will not damage the building, bombs will affect the structural strength. However, an empty mall could also be occassioned by poor design, which makes it difficult to create a good client experience. If there are no structural problems, then the retail mix can be reorganised to create a vibrant shopping mall experience.”

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