Côte d’Ivoire’s newest mall has opened its doors to an ignored, but lucrative market
Cosmos Yopougon is a $30 million project that formally opened last month in Abidjan’s most populous neighborhood with the same name. The mall boasts a Carrefour supermarket, a Burger King and a 700-seater Majestic Cinema complex as its anchor tenants, along with a CFA1,000 store, similar to a $1 store in the US. Telcos MTN and Orange will also use their stores in the mall as their flagship mobile money outlets.
It isn’t the first retail bet in Côte d’Ivoire. Two years ago, French group CFAO opened the $66 million Playce-Marcory, a mall that brought an American or European shopping experience to Abidjan’s wealthier neighborhoods, following the existing trend around the continent.
Also known as “Yop City,” Yopougon has become increasingly mixed-income as the country’s economy has improved. It’s also why developers HC Capital chose the neighborhood, bucking retail trends. HC Capital’s format looks a lot like the model that South African grocer Shoprite used to expand across the continent.
The area has an annual fast-moving consumergoods spend (FMCG, consumer spending that accounts for spending on products such as food and beverages) of €440 million ($499 million), comparable to Abidjan’s affluent neighborhoods, HC Capital founder Hafeez Giwa told Quartz.
“
It’s not as easy as getting a report from a large investment bank, you have to do it yourself,” he said in a phonecall from Beirut.
https://qz.com/africa/1494708/cote-divoires-newest-mall-has-opened-its-doors-to-an-ignored-but-lucrative-market/