Eastgate Shopping Centre is a super-regional shopping centre in

Bedfordview Bedfordview is an affluent suburb in western Ekurhuleni, sharing an administrative boundary with the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, Gauteng, South Africa. Bedfordview has been part of the City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipalit ...

, near Bedford Gardens and the

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a Megacity#List of megacities, megacity, and is List of urban areas by p ...

city centre in

Gauteng Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...

. It remains one of the largest centres in the country and is the fourth largest shopping centre in

, after Mall of Africa,

Sandton City Sandton City is a large shopping mall situated in Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa. It was built and owned by property development company Rapp and Maister, in partnership with brothers Hilliard and Eli Leibowitz, and was later taken over by ...

and

Menlyn Park Menlyn Park Shopping Centre is a large shopping mall in Menlyn, Pretoria, South Africa, owned by development company Pareto. It is designed around three spaces – the Food Court, the keyhole malls and focal points, and a large internal garden s ...

. The centre lies next to the R24 airport freeway, between the

Johannesburg CBD The Central Business District, commonly called Johannesburg CBD, is one of the main business centres of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is the densest collection of skyscrapers in Africa, however, due to white flight and urban blight, many of the b ...

to the west and

O. R. Tambo International Airport O. R. Tambo International Airport is an international airport situated in Kempton Park, Gauteng, South Africa. It serves as the primary airport for domestic and international travel to/from South Africa and since 2020, it is Africa's second ...

to the east.

History

Eastgate was

's first 'super-regional'

shopping centre A shopping center ( American English) or shopping centre (Commonwealth English), also called a shopping complex, shopping arcade, shopping plaza or galleria, is a group of shops built together, sometimes under one roof. The first known colle ...

. The decision to build Eastgate was taken in 1974 by Rapp & Maister. It was to be built on an 18 ha site with 5 ha inside the Johannesburg municipality while the other 13 ha was in Bedfordview. It was planned to be opened in 1978 and would have 90,000sqm of retail space with major tenants being OK Bazaars, Edgars,

Woolworths Woolworth, Woolworth's, or Woolworths may refer to: Businesses * F. W. Woolworth Company, the original US-based chain of "five and dime" (5¢ and 10¢) stores * Woolworths Group (United Kingdom), former operator of the Woolworths chain of shop ...

, Greatermans and John Orrs. There would be another 180 smaller stores, four cinemas and 5,000 parking bays. When it opened in 1979, it was the largest shopping centre in the southern hemisphere.

Further upgrades

A expansion was completed in 2010, which brings Eastgate to over . A few years later, the centre underwent another major redevelopment by Liberty Life to modernise both the retail and office components, which was completed in 2017. To this day, it is managed by Liberty Properties on behalf of the parent company,

Liberty Holdings Limited Liberty Holdings Limited (JSE: LBH) is a financial services and property holding company with registered head office situated in Johannesburg, South Africa at Liberty Centre, 1 Ameshoff St., Braamfontein. The company was founded in South Af ...

. The centre is currently over . Eastgate Shopping Centre is frequented by over 80,000 shoppers on Saturdays and over 2 million shoppers during an average month. The shopping centre offers

Bureau de change A bureau de change (plural bureaux de change, both ) (British English) or currency exchange (American English) is a business where people can exchange one currency for another. Nomenclature Although originally French, the term "bureau de chang ...

facilities. Major retailers include one of the most successful Woolworths in South Africa and a recently refurbished cinema complex. The centre has over 250 stores, which include more than 60 fashion boutiques and 13 jewellers. Unusual for a single complex, the building straddled the municipal boundaries of the

City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality The City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality is a metropolitan municipality that manages the local governance of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is divided into several branches and departments in order to expedite services for the city. Z ...

and

Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality The City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality is a metropolitan municipality that forms the local government of the East Rand region of Gauteng. The municipality itself is a large suburban region east of Johannesburg. The name ''Ekurhuleni' ...

. However, in 2013, the boundary was adjusted by the

Municipal Demarcation Board The Municipal Demarcation Board is an independent authority responsible for delimiting the boundaries of South African districts and municipalities and the boundaries of the electoral wards within those municipalities. General The Board was e ...

to move Eastgate fully into Ekurhuleni.

Notes

External links

Official site
Buildings and structures completed in 1979 Shopping centres in Germiston Shopping malls established in 1979 Economy of Ekurhuleni {{SouthAfrica-struct-stub