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Kenya’s largest shopping mall, Two Rivers Mall, opens to public

By ANNIE NJANJA February 15th, 2017 2 min read

Two Rivers Mall opened on Tuesday and is set to be the largest shopping complex in Kenya on completion.

The Sh1 billion ($10 million) shopping mall is partly owned by Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed investment company Centum.

It will host more than 150 international and local retailers that include Turkish clothing line LC Waikiki, Nike, Chandarana, Nove Coffee Roaster and The Designers studio and jewellers Swarovski and Anmol.

French retail giant Carrefour is set to open its biggest store in Kenya at the mall with 10,000 square meters floor space.

Other clients at the mall include Deacons which has opened Mr Price Apparel, Mr Price Home, Bossini and Adidas stores there.

NEW COMPETITION

Carrefour is expected to pose new competition especially to the market leader Nakumatt, which targets similar clientele to the French giant.

The retailer opened its maiden Kenyan outlet at The Hub in May last year.

The second phase of the mall will include a five-star hotel and apartments. It begins before mid this year.

Shareholders of Two Rivers Lifestyle Company Limited, the company that owns the mall are Two Rivers Development Limited and OMP Africa Investment Company, where each holds 50 per cent stake.

Two Rivers Development Limited is owned by Centum Investment (58 per cent), AVIC International (39 percent), and ICDC (3 per cent). OMP Africa Investment Company is a group company of Old Mutual Group.

Centum Group is set to move its offices to Two Rivers.

“Two Rivers Mall will create employment and is designed to offer world class shopping and hopefully stop people from going to foreign countries for shopping,” said Centum Group Chairman Chris Kirubi in a statement.

AFFLUENT NEIGHBOURHOODS

The mall has an app to help shoppers pay for the parking and access other information on the complex.

It sits on 11 of 102-acres along Limuru Road, in close proximity to the affluent neighbourhoods of Runda, Nyari, Gigiri and Muthaiga.

Centum has in the past said mall was set to open in October but was delayed by an increase in the lettable space from 460,000 square feet to over 700,000 square feet at present.

The developer cited the scale of work and that some tenants were not ready. The delay hit returns for some investors and tenants who had hoped to cash in on the December holiday season.