Eastern Cape's Vincent Park shopping centre celebrates 50 years

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The property upon which the mall is located was once the Vincent Hotel. It was purchased by Old Mutual in 1971 for redevelopment into a shopping centre with Pick n Pay as the anchor tenant. The mall officially opened its doors in October 1972. Today, it has 37,000m² of trading space and over 80 tenants.

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“Despite increasing competition and changes in shopper spending behaviour, Vincent Park retains a loyal shopper base. Vincent Park remains relevant through continuous innovation, based on a firm understanding of both the retail industry and the local shopper and best practice trends,” centre/portfolio manager, Joseph Parsley explains.

Impact of social media

He says while fashion and music changes were inevitable, the impact of social media and technology has been significant, completely changing shopper engagement. Now, the focus is on building brand awareness and affinity through results-driven social media campaigns and activations.

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Over the years, Vincent Park has also seen numerous bricks and mortar upgrades with hundreds of millions of rands in redevelopment and infrastructure development.

“Vincent Park has embarked on substantial infrastructure investment over the past couple of years to bring about cost savings, energy efficiencies and the implementation of 21st century technology,” adds Parsley.

Green initiatives include the installation of a solar plant, the addition of energy-efficient LED lighting, the installation of a chilled water plant to improve air cooling, the introduction of a grey water / non-potable water supply project to toilets, rainwater harvesting and landscaping using waterwise and indigenous plants.

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“Overall, Vincent Park’s legacy and brand affinity definitely stands in its favour. East London is very community driven. Everyone knows everyone, and everyone has a memory of Vincent Park,” Parsley concludes.