Monday, July 7, 2025
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Why Two Rivers Mall Might Fail To Get Good Business

By Bizna Brand Analyst

Two Rivers Mall, an imposing 65,000 square metre shopping facility, finally opened a few weeks ago. The mall was initially set to open in October 2015 but the date was pushed to March 2016 then to September and later to this year’s Valentine’s Day due to what the developer termed as “construction delays”. They wanted to make it as big as possible huh? That was ambitious of them but I am sure the owners and investors are sulking right now. The mall has become a tourist attraction for common mwananchi rather than the phenomenal business hub it was intended to be.

Social media is flooded with pictures of young smiling faces at Two Rivers Mall. Pass by the entrance and you will see many people walking in and out with no shopping bags at all. Everyone wants to be at the biggest shop in East Africa. The only problem is that a huge portion of ‘everyone’ is not there to shop but to just walk around, marvel at the sites and take pictures. The few who spend only do so at the less-expensive eateries.

Co-Op post

Good Read: How Much Money Do Businesses At Thika Road Mall Really Make?

What else would you expect? French retailer Carrefour, which operates more than 12,000 outlets globally, is the anchor tenant at the Two Rivers Mall. Most Kenyans are thinking “Hii ni gani sasa? Sisi tumezoea Nakumatt, Naivas na Tuskys.” Turkish luxury fashion line LC Wakiki, Woolsworths, Hugo Boss and Nike are also some of the mall’s tenants. Nike shop?Kenyans are used to mtumba. It’s clear that wealthy Kenyans are the targeted shoppers but they might just not show up frequently.

I’ve spent some time around ‘moneyed’ people and I can say for certain that they are never comfortable hanging around common folk. Or rather relaxing or shopping around common folk. They prefer their own environment where they can interact with other successful people. Two Rivers mall doesn’t provide such kind of an environment at the moment.

For this reason, the spenders might boycott the mall, causing it to lose a lot of business. I am sure the management would love to set up some form of mild apartheid and only allow the people with cars inside but that would create huge backlash. People would vent and rant on how the management of Two Rivers is being discriminatory towards ordinary Kenyans.

Must Read: Complete Business Guides/Plans on How to start 41 Profitable Businesses in Kenya

It’s obvious that hyping up the mall was a bad idea. It should have just commenced business under the radar like other posh malls. The fact that it was marketed as the largest mall in East Africa attracted lots of eyeballs that aren’t really balling.

NCBA

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