'SHOPPERTAINMENT' appears to be paying off for major centres. Stores at Menlyn Park in Pretoria reported that turnover rose 72% on average during the December period against year-earlier figures, with 1,4-million people passing through the centre.

This was more than double the 1999 monthly average of 650000. Its 15-screen cinema complex proved a major draw card.

Cape Town's recently opened Canal Walk, meanwhile, attracted 5,7-million visitors in its first 12 weeks of trading.

The Gateway complex, north of Durban which will have an 18-screen complex run by Ster Kinekor, five Cinema Nouveau screens and an Imax theatre, as well as sports and family entertainment zones is also expected to be a major crowd-puller when it is completed later this year.