Last week, a newspaper ran a notice about an environmental and heritage assessment for a sizeable shopping centre mall development in St Francis on the farm Goed Geloof. If you have a copy of that paper, go and have a look around for the notice. There is a new mall planned, that’s for sure.
Progress
We cannot stop progress, and by publishing this notice in the newspaper, the obligatory boxes are being ticked..
Rumours are swirling, as they always will in St Francis Bay, but a good (not impeccable, I might add) source has told us of a definite plan for a Woolies, a Checkers high-end grocery store and a Mr Price at this stage. There has been a demand for Woolies for some time now, with many locals using their delivery service. There are also less strong rumours of a Steers and a Debonairs. Whacky Wednesday and giant, cheap pizzas with sausage-crammed crusts, anyone? Both are heading this way, apparently and will probably be super popular over the season.
New Mall Planned, and More
Let’s face it: at some stage, we will get a mall and development behind Full Stop in Cape St Francis and further development in other spaces in St Francis Bay and Cape St Francis. That’s an absolute given. It is just a matter of time. Remember when people started talking about Fountains Mall in JBay? How it would never work?
There are also persistent rumours of a surf shop. This would be a good idea, as the groynes are coming and the surfing landscape will change in St Francis Bay.
The sky’s the limit, literally. This mall might even have a rooftop restaurant with a view of the waves. Wouldn’t that be spectacular?
(image by OpenAi Pro, so not real)
What we do need in SF is a Town Hall, there are so many activities that a hall with a stage. There is plenty of space opposite the golf club. Please consider urgently, this is more beneficial to the community than a load of shops.
Really, what a disappointment, St.Francis and Cape St.francis are losing their character and are becoming like Plett???
How is the infrastructure going to handle all this development which is already out of control.
So sad. It will be portion of farm 745 Goed Geloof. Whole area was Goed Geloof
How is a giant mall in keeping with the village. Another filling station? Where is the infrastructure to support this and where are all the workers to be housed? As Jackie Kennedy said when she saved Grand Central Station in New York change is NOT inevitable. ‘
How many residents want a mall? Happy to use JBay and keep SFB as it is. SFB not PE.
We absolutely need it the village now is packed and more houses are being built be fantastic
I agree! Not everybody wants to drive all the way to Jbay to fetch what they really need and want! Petrol is not free!
Jarvi, your regression to describing a very large shopping mall in SFB as “progress” may be a sign you should perhaps progress to living in Cape Town, PE or Jawj – all places, with big malls, that you have eloquently written about recently. Except, as you have so succinctly (and humorously) pointed out yourself, any such move would actually constitute a major regress!
Very soon smhart will have a 5 star security office in St francis.
Plans have been submitted to the municipality and we hopefully will begin soon.
It will be great to see a mall rising in St Francis.
The Kouga Municipality has frequently admitted to inheriting inadequate infrastructure – for water, sewage, power, stormwater and roads in the greater St Francis area. It urgently needs an overall engineering and infrastructure masterplan – before approving further major development. Can the area afford a greater demand on its works (and capacity such as pipelines) without jeopardizing its current services? Where is the town going to expand to support massive development – Eskom and the Links to the west, and seasonally waterlogged land to the north and east. Residents might want to consider the impact on our small friendly local businesses, which will suffer. Careful considered planning is needed for all future development.