The Achimota Retail Centre (ARC), one of the biggest malls in the country, has gone beyond its primary purpose as shopping and business centre to become the prime centre for social amenities and basic necessities of life for the people of Ga-West district in just five years of existence.
According to management of ARC, over the past five years, the mall has consistently made available to residents in the neighbouring communities access to basic amenities and luxuries such as playgrounds, eateries, bars and nightclubs, car park among others, at a single secured location, convenience factors which have been absent in the locality for a long time.
Regional Head of West Africa, Growth Point Investec Africa Properties, Adjei Ampofo, speaking on behalf of management in a short ceremony to climax the fifth anniversary, indicated that the main rationale for siting the modern multimillion-dollar shopping centre in the north-eastern part of Accra, which is a fast growing area is not only to ease off pressure of congestion on the central business centre, but to also provide convenient place for business.
“The Achimota Mall, as many customers prefer to call it, has provided the thousands of residents of this vast area with a convenient place for business, and indeed has gone beyond to even provide social amenities to enhance interaction, entertainment and other basic facilities that are clearly absent in these localities for a long time. Over the past five years, this mall has offered its customers and patrons a well-balanced tenant mix with nearly 50 percent of the brands and tenants originating from Ghana,” he said.
He further emphasised that the mall has generated many jobs directly from businesses in the mall and indirectly from the many businesses that has sprung forth around the mall, stressing that management will do more in the coming years to ensure sustainability of the mall and also make it possible for tenants to thrive and grow their businesses.
The edifice, which sits on a total land area of 35,790 square meters, has over 40 shops and two highly reputed anchor tenants, in Shoprite and Game. It also comes with a spacious parking area with a capacity for 585 cars of which 250 slots constitute an undercover basement parking.
As part of the activities to climax the 5th anniversary, management rewarded hardworking and dedicated janitors and security personnel of the facility with certificates and cash prizes. Randy Quarteyson, who was adjudged the overall best security officer took home GH¢1,900 cash prize and certificate, likewise Castro Mensah, who also emerged best personality in janitor services.
Speaking to the media, Kojo Antwi, Sales Manager for Grosvenor, a tenant of the Achimota Mall, indicated that business is gradually picking up after the lockdown as a result the COVID-19 pandemic but asked management of the mall to undertake an advertising campaign to reiterated the full operation of the mall in order to drive in more clientele.
On his part, Michael Tei, supervisor of Minisou, a clothing and accessories shop in the mall, called on management to strengthen security operations in the edifice as Christmas is approaching, recalling how Xmas drives up number of people visiting the mall on daily basis which criminals usually take advantage of to steal.
Management with invited guests cutting the anniversary cake to mark five years of existence
