The company said it was the first outlet retail fashion village in Africa and that the open-air shopping centre was based on the international shopping concept prevalent in the US and Europe.

Spearhead chief operating officer Darren Wilder said yesterday that the first phase of the development would include 45 stores such as Levi’s, Lee Cooper, adidas, Rage, Fabiani and Pinns the Jewellers.

Outlet retail is “a big concept in Europe and America where stores offer last year’s fashion stock at discounted prices. It’s only branded stores, both local and international brands,” said Wilder. He said the stores would offer discounts of up to 30%.

Outlet retail shopping is a $15bn-a-year business in the US.

The concept differs from “factory” shopping outlets in that stores are based in a proper shopping centre with ample parking. Wilder said the stores also had “high street finishes”. Construction on Sable Square started a year-and-a-half ago.

The total development will consist of 22000m² of space.

Spearhead said the development formed part of the “vibrant west coast corridor — the fastest-growing residential area in South Africa”.

Wilder said the development would consist of two phases and that the group would be “on site” for the second phase in the next six months. The first phase of the development is 95% let.

“We’ve had a lot of interest for phase two. We’ve had unprecedented calls for space in the second phase. There has been a lot of demand for space from “big-box” users,” he said.

So-called “big-box” users are retailers that take up space of anything from 500m² to 2000m².