The South African Council of Shopping Centre’s (SACSC) Annual Research Conference celebrated its eighth anniversary recently with more than 270 delegates representing the country’s most respected companies and brands, in attendance.

Irish playwright, critic and political activist George Bernard Shaw once said: “Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything”.

Retail cannibalisation is becoming a growing reality in South Africa and, until now, it has been all too easy to place the blame for this squarely at the feet of shopping centre developers.