Menlyn Park’s Grocery Avenue features the latest in store design for Checkers Hyper, Food Lovers Market, Pick n Pay and New World Discount Store.

Menlyn Park Shopping Centre has opened a 20 000m2 semi-open-plan, double-volume public mall featuring the very latest store designs for anchor tenants Checkers Hyper, Food Lovers Market, New World Discount Stores and Pick n Pay. Pretoria’s warm climate, abundant sunshine and nuanced colours have shaped the beautifully neutral palette, spacious airy interiors and ultramodern structure.

This marks the end of the first phase of a R2-billion redevelopment of Pretoria’s largest shopping centre. “Our aim is to create an environment that’s not only pleasing to the eye but is also about superb convenience and accessibility,” says Marius Muller, CEO of Pareto Limited, co-owner of Menlyn Park Shopping Centre.

The new-look Checkers Hyper includes its first-ever in-store coffee shop, home to a dedicated seating area and delicatessen, alongside a new take-away Gourmet Burger Bar, which allows shoppers to pay for their hamburgers with the rest of their shopping. 

Food Lovers Market has opened an upmarket version of their standard stores, including old favourites such as fresh produce and wine sections, a butchery, a bakery, a dairy, a seafood counter and a water bar. The Market Café seating area allows shoppers to sit and eat whatever they buy in-store. Other drawcards include a live herb wall and a Seattle Coffee Company grab-and-go counter.

Pick n Pay have opened a brand new store, modelled on the one-stop-shop experience. Everything from banking services to drawing social grants or booking flights and car hire is on offer, aside from the standard grocery shopping facility. The store also features Pick n Pay’s new-look produce and clothing departments, with ample space for customers to stroll down wide shopping aisles. 

The capital’s favourite bargain electronics store, New World Discount Stores, have opened their largest store to date in Grocery Avenue. A number of firsts are on offer here, including a premium Samsung brand store, an LG shop-in-shop, a Panasonic shop-in-shop, a disco-stage shop-in-shop, a Casio G-Factory shop-in-shop, as well as an elevated nine-panel TV wall allowing customers to have clear sight of the screens from wherever they are in the store. 

“Grocery Avenue is the largest area of its kind in Pretoria and is the next major milestone in our bid to become the largest mall on the continent,” says Peter Levett, CEO of Old Mutual Property, co-owner of Menlyn Park Shopping Centre. “We’re celebrating this with a three-week-long promotion in the new forecourt adjacent to the stores, featuring appearances and live cooking demos by SuzelleDIY, Siba Mtongana from Siba’s Table and J-Something from Micasa.”

During the launch period, the three celebrity chefs will take the helm over the three weekends from 26 June. Shoppers will be invited to spend R500 or more at any of the new stores in Grocery Avenue and stand a chance of winning daily prizes.

Grocery Avenue, which is the far-western extension of the shopping centre, is accessible from Atterbury and Garsfontein roads. It offers easily accessible open and covered parking very close to all three chain stores. Other tenants in Grocery Avenue include House & Home, Vodacom, Telkom, Verimark, Specsavers, Levingers Dry Cleaning, Sahara Halaal Biltong, House of Candy, Style Studio, Ocean Basket, Parrots, Checkers Liquor, Tobacconist & Gift Store, Montaqu Menlyn, Tidy Tucs Tailer, Vodacom 4 U and King Pie. Trading hours are Monday to Thursday 9am-7pm, Friday 9am-9pm, Saturday 9am-7pm and Sunday 9am-5pm. 

The redevelopment of Menlyn Park, which began in April last year, is being rolled out in two phases. In December 2014, a new food court and entertainment section was launched, followed by a triple-level fashion wing in April this year. Construction of the final phase started early June with demolition works, and is expected to open in November 2016. 

To hoard off some of the redevelopment occurring elsewhere in the centre, a massive handcrafted jacaranda origami wall will be unveiled later this month, while The Village – a 8 533m2 space with a metro-grunge feel, on Parking Level 5 – will be the temporary home for the next 18 months to major tenants including Poetry, Old Khaki, Fossil, Sunglass Hut, Clicks, Ackermans, Home etc, Mr Price Home and Boardmans.