One year after the City Mall opened its doors to shoppers, the facility is being hailed by businesses and consumers alike as a landmark development in the local commercial culture that has done as much for comfort and convenience as it has for commerce in the capital.
Last Wednesday the multi million dollar shopping facility marked its first anniversary by offering a session of steel band music as the customary crowds of shoppers poured through its attractive, interior seeking out their favourite stores and stalls or else seeking respite from the fierce midday sun.
From shoppers and businesses alike there was little but praise for the multi-storey edifice that has significantly altered the landscape of downtown Georgetown and, a year after it first opened its doors, confounded sceptics who had expressed doubts about its likely popularity.
Allison English, co-owner of the Brown Bag Delhi, one of the more popular food outlets in the facility told Stabroek Business that the public response to the City Mall had proven that people were as mindful of convenience as they were about costs. “In the beginning people wondered whether they could afford to shop here. What they have found is that even if prices are higher in some cases, the amenities that the Mall offers add value to the experience of shopping here. English said that though operating from the Mall has its challenges, those challenges are compensated for by its popularity with customers. On really good days the City Mall is probably the best facility from which to trade in Georgetown,” English said.
The owners and managers of other businesses One year after the City Mall opened its doors to shoppers, the facility is being hailed by businesses and consumers alike as a landmark development in the local commercial culture that has done as much for comfort and convenience as it has for commerce in the capital.
Last Wednesday the multi million dollar shopping facility marked its first anniversary by offering a session of steel band music as the customary crowds of shoppers poured through its attractive, interior seeking out their favourite stores and stalls or else seeking respite from the fierce midday sun.
From shoppers and businesses alike there was little but praise for the multi-storey edifice that has significantly altered the landscape of downtown Georgetown and, a year after it first opened its doors, confounded sceptics who had expressed doubts about its likely popularity.
Allison English, co-owner of the Brown Bag Delhi, one of the more popular food outlets in the facility told Stabroek Business that the public response to the City Mall had proven that people were as mindful of convenience as they were about costs. “In the beginning people wondered whether they could afford to shop here. What they have found is that even if prices are higher in some cases, the amenities that the Mall offers add value to the experience of shopping here. English said that though operating from the Mall has its challenges, those challenges are compensated for by its popularity with customers. On really good days the City Mall is probably the best facility from which to trade in Georgetown,” English said.
The owners and managers of other businesses in the City Mall with whom Stabroek Business spoke, but who declined to be identified, agreed the City Mall had become a favoured shopping venue because of the physical attractions that it offers.
An armed robbery at the Mall earlier this year appears to have heightened what had already been a deep concern about crime in the city business community. Most businesses trading from the facility say that while its “openness,” may be a positive, it did not allow for sufficient “control” over the movement of people.
And while businesses trading from the City Mall appear to have anticipated a brisk Christmas that does not appear to have materialized, at least up to last Wednesday. When Stabroek Business visited the Mall most shops were virtually empty and a boutique owner posited the view that VAT had resulted in such a significant increase in the cost of consumer goods that there had been a considerable “dwindling” of disposable income and hat this was likely to impact heavily on the volume of shopping this Christmas.
