Wow, on Tuesday, I opened up a veritable can of worms with my ‘poorly written and opinionated’ article on the new mall, It was also called an ‘irresponsible piece’ ‘, inflammatory ‘, ‘stirring the pot’, ‘a load of kak’  and other more colourful terms. We haven’t seen so much traffic since we published the article that everyone has to register their solar systems with Kouga Municipality. (All Alternative Energy Installations To Be Registered) Remember that shocker?

The vitriol was flowing like brandy and coke on payday, and some of the insults were pretty funny. However, some comments I chose not to publish weren’t lekker. Some were vituperative, pompous, and patronising all at once. Coincidentally, I’m not a fan of having high levels of pomp in my life. Nor low levels of pomp, actually.

Well, at least now we know that someone is reading SFT. No offence taken. At least no one called me chubby.

Apologies

Anyway, I apologise; I blew it. Going forward, I will deal with this sensitive issue with more gravitas, as is clearly needed. With no more AI images. They did not go down well.

The proposed St Francis Bay ‘Shopping Centre Mall’, as it was called in the newspaper notice, will look like this –

The proposed development will include 8000m2 of retail space. Within this retail space, a filling station is included.

The majority of the proposed development will consist of a single-story building, with the exception of the medical centre. This will consist of a ground floor with 46 parking bays and a first floor (1206 m2).

The proposed development will be divided into the following retail spaces: two anchor stores, namely;

Woolworths 800m2 and Checkers 2556m2, two ATMs measuring at 9m2 each, three fast food restaurants measuring at 94m2 each, a coffee restaurant 150m2, two restaurants measuring at 250m2 each, a drive-through restaurant 260m2, line shops comprising of different stores amounting to 1312m2, these stores include; Milady’s (not yet placed), Absolute Pets(150m2), Pet Science (150m2), Crazy Store (250m2).

Sub Anchor Stores

Sub anchor stores amounting to 4000m2, consisting of; Woolworths edit (400m2), Mr Price Home (425m2), PNP clothing (425m2), Ackermans (450m2), Outdoor (500m2), Meat World (850m2), Plastics (950m2). There will also be a Clicks store (650 m2) at the proposed shopping centre.

The proposed shopping mall will consist of the following commercial businesses: a gymnasium 1200 m2, a motor fitment at 410 m2, a filling station at 431 m2 and a Medical Centre which will extend from the ground floor (1206 m2) to the first floor (1206 m2).

The proposed filing station will require underground fuel storage for a 4-island, 8-pump garage with a total storage capacity of 140,000 litres. This will be made up of 2 70,000-litre tanks with internal separation tanks so the operator can configure the fuel mix they hold between petrol and diesel octanes.

The proposed shopping mall is designed to have parking space for 713 vehicles”

So, to condense the above, 713 parking spaces and a “drive-through restaurant.” That has to sink in…

The editor.