“Growth in retail in Namibia has been constant, with no negative effects recorded. This can be attributed to the size of the population in Namibia in relation to its retail offering, as well as the good flow of tourists to this country from all over the world to the area,” says Bennie.

Even more important, Bennie believes that Namibia’s careful approach to town planning and retail development provides an excellent case study and is becoming an example of best practice – something that many other areas in Southern Africa, and South Africa itself, could learn from. 
    
A major trend that he says that is benefiting the retail sector in Namibia is that of favouring the expansion of established retail locations to meet growing demand. “This helps to contain and capitalise on existing footfall, instead of splitting the retail cake as a diversity of new developments has the tendency to do,” he says.

Furthermore, as logistic companies increasingly venture into Namibia and develop improved networks, more retailers from South Africa are making their debut in the country. Examples include Dis-Chem, Reggies and a number of well established restaurant franchises. Adds Bennie, “Already, all major South African national retail groups are represented – from Shoprite, Pick n Pay, Foschini and Edcon, to Ster Kinekor.”

However, retailer interest to venture outside of South Africa is not only directed at the bustling Namibian economy. Bennie says that Broll is increasingly fielding many enquiries for space in retail centres in North Africa. “Here, we are actively interacting with local developers in a number of areas with a view to creating project partnerships using specialised local or regional insight, twinned with Broll’s global retail property knowledge,” says Bennie who is currently busy with projects in Mauritius, Nigeria and Angola.

Broll is a multi-disciplinary property services company with over 35 years experience in the property industry.  Its services include property, shopping centre, utilities and facilities management as well as sales, leasing, valuations, retail consultancy, corporate real estate advisory services, research and investment services to the retail, commercial, industrial and investment markets. Broll is part of the international CB Richard Ellis network.