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But some two decades down the line, the shopping malls seem to have fallen by the wayside.
Malls such as Westgate, High Glen and Chitungwiza Town Centre were meant to service their environs, thereby decongesting the city centre, but they have unfortunately been deserted by both shoppers and business owners.

To most residents, the malls are now just a painful reminder of what could have been, as they have failed to live up to expectations.
A visit to the malls by The Sunday Mail In-Depth painted a sorry tale, as business has terribly gone down.
At Westgate, the most up-market of the three, just the number of cars in the car park was enough to prove that people no longer frequent the place as often as they used to.

While the majority of the shops on the ground level at Westgate are still functional, the same cannot be said about the upper level where nearly three quarters of the businesses have closed shop.
Only doctors and hair salons seem to have survived.
A sales assistant in one of the shops said business was disappointingly low, as most people no longer visit the mall like they used to.

The sales assistant, who preferred anonymity, said high rentals were not helping matters either, as a huge chunk of what they make is gobbled by their landlord.
“Business normally picks up at the end of the month, but business is not what it should be like,” she said. “People do not come here any more and the rent is too much. We pay US$500 per month and those with bigger shops pay even more.”

Though the owners of the complex have managed to maintain its high standards, movie houses and the majority of renowned eating joints which used to be among the major drawcards have since been closed.
Some disused shops have stacks of electricity and telephone bills stashed under their doors.
While the majority of shops are empty, some shop-owners did not bother removing their wares before they disappeared, apparently for fear of being asked to pay their rent arrears.

Said a security guard who only identified himself as Lloyd: “Some of the people just left without clearing their shops because they were behind with their rents. Most of the shops are empty, but hopefully things will improve soon because empty shops mean that some of us will end up losing our jobs.”
Very few people were at Westgate Shopping Mall, which still has only two banks that are operational.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of High Glen Shopping Centre, which appears the hardest hit by the exodus.
High Glen is a pale shadow of itself and the unavailability of transport to the centre has added to the demise of the shopping mall which opened its doors to the public in 1999.
Though the owners, Old Mutual, have managed to maintain the standards like is being done at Westgate, they are seriously lacking in luring business people back to centre.

Out of 72 shops, only 35 are functional at High Glen. Out of the five or so banks that used to operate from High Glen, only one is functional.
The rest were closed down in 2008, including CABS, which, ironically, is owned by Old Mutual.
The two giant supermarkets that were operating from the premises have closed shop, leaving people from neighbouring suburbs such as Budiriro, Mufakose, Glen Norah and Glen View with no choice but to travel all the way to the city centre for their shopping.

Mrs Lorraine Mapuranga, who lives near the centre, said the closing down of businesses had affected them.
“We live a walking distance from High Glen, but now we have to go to town or Machipisa Shopping Centre to do our business,” she said.
“This used to be such a beautiful and safe place for shopping. I am only here because I heard there is a huge clearance sale at one of the shops, otherwise I rarely come here.”
According to an office assistant manning the Old Mutual office at High Glen, the mass exodus has been due to a number of reasons, the biggest being the hyper-inflationary environment the country experienced, especially between 2006 and 2008.

“When the big supermarkets closed, most shops had no choice but to shut down as well, because they mainly relied on walk-in customers who would have visited the supermarkets,” said the office assistant.
“Transport is also another huge factor because this place never really had a reliable shuttle service from the word go.”

Though the chips are down, the office assistant believes business will improve with time.
To rent and run a shop at any of the malls, one needs to possess a certificate of incorporation, CR14 clearance, tax clearance forms, value added tax registration, three months bank statements, financial statements from the previous year and pay an application fee of US$50 before going through further vetting for verification purposes.

All in all, it takes a little over three weeks for an application to be approved.
The property giant charges between US$5 and US$7 per square metre, meaning that someone who is renting a shop that is 150 square metres will have to pay nearly US$1 000 per month.
University of Zimbabwe Department of Rural and Urban Planning chairman Mr Joel Chaeruka attributed the harsh economic climate as the major reason malls are not performing as well as they should.
Mr Chaeruka said most people who in the past used to have disposable income when the malls were put up no longer have a lot of money to spend.

He also said the other reason the malls seemed to be doing well was because there were big businesses operating from there.
“When the big businesses left, the smaller businesses were grossly affected, causing the mass exodus. Most business people now opt to operate in the city where there are more people and rents are a bit lower because a significant number of businesses have been subdivided into cubicles,” he said.

Mr Chaeruka also said because Harare has a radial layout, many people prefer to get into town than go to the malls.
“The central business district is structured in such a way that is easily accessible from all suburbs, so it is convenient to most people,” Mr Chaeruka said.
At Chitungwiza Town Centre, an office assistant also manning the Old Mutual offices said upon being allowed to conduct their businesses at the centre, the property giant does not allow its tenants to change their line of business or mix it with something else.

She also said they do not allow shop owners to sublet.
“We are professionals and we expect everything to be done professionally as we have standards to maintain,” she said.

The centre has also been deserted by leading supermarkets and its bus terminus is also lying idle.
Said a kombi driver: “We last conducted business from this rank in 2007. Now there is nothing here and it is so sad to see things going down everyday knowing there is nothing that we can do.”
Analysts hope that the situation will improve gradually as the economy continues to recover form the devastating effects of sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by Western countries.
The economic recovery will result in businesspeople returning to the shopping malls.-The Sunday Mail