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A MOCK mall in Bulawayo’s CBD set up in honour of the late Vice-President Dr Joshua Nkomo closed yesterday with concerns that it failed to attract interest.The local authority cordoned off sections of Jason Moyo Street and 8th Avenue in the city centre to pave way for the mock mall last month.
The roads were re-opened to the public yesterday. The mock mall, the first of its kind in Bulawayo, was offered to local companies to exhibit and market their businesses in the open ahead of and after the official unveiling of Dr Nkomo’s statue on December 22.
The concept failed to attract many participants as most of the bays set aside for companies to exhibit their products and services were empty.
Notable companies that had stands at the makeshift mall included the Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe, Steward Bank, Bravo Transport Company and telecommunications companies, Econet and Telecel, and some animal sculptures that were also on display.
Exhibitors who took part in the exhibition, said they managed to record brisk business. They however urged the Bulawayo City Council to aggressively market the event to reach out to the public in future.
“We managed to record brisk business from the mock mall because a lot of people visited our stand to access our services,” said one of the participants.
“The organisers need to improve in terms of marketing the concept and ensure that many people are aware of it. A lot of people were not really aware of what was going on.”
Bulawayo Town Clerk Middleton Nyoni described the event as a success and commended the companies that participated for supporting the concept.
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