Anytime one recalls the spectacular opening of the Kumasi City Mall, one of the things that immediately come to mind is the trolling and fun-poking it generated on social media nationwide. Strangely enough, rather than irritate or offend anybody, it served to pronounce the significance and uniqueness of this mall.

But it is most intuitive that immediately after the mall was commissioned by the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo under the official patronage of his Royal Majesty Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Asantehene, the bashing died out completely, giving way to a more sober reflection of the potential impact a US$95 million investment in Kumasi’s retail space can have on the local economy, the business landscape and the social life of almost two million people in the Kumasi metropolis.

Dwindling bragging rights

Within less than an hour after he arrived at the mall on May 10, and even before he and Otumfuo were conducted round the facility, the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo made a remarkable observation which he freely shared with the guests. The President looked around and up at the intricate architectural design of the mall’s Food Court and then he urged residents of Kumasi to brush aside all the fun-poking and the trolling from their compatriots in Accra .......because the reason was all too obvious.

The President’s remark was emphatic: that the monopoly Accra seemed to have been enjoying with the emergence of modern retail malls had suddenly been shattered with the coming....and indeed the splendour.....of Kumasi City Mall.

So, the euphoria and fun-poking which greeted the opening of Kumasi City Mall was a very normal phenomenon which may be expected anytime a coveted monopoly is broken: Six or seven malls in Accra since 2008 and until April 20, none at all in metropolitan Kumasi – known to be a major national hub for business, commerce, trade, culture and tourism. You would not be faulted for assuming that a similar scale of ballyhoo will greet the sudden arrival of a world class shopping mall in say, Tamale or Takoradi at any time.

The most unique Mall

Kumasi City Mall currently has a huge lettable space of 18,500 square metres, which can be upgraded by another 10,000 square metres to level at 28,500. The mall itself is cited on a total land space of 15.43 acres.

It is strategically located off the eastern bypass of the city’s main ring road, sprawling between the Lake Road dual carriageway, the Hudson Road, the Yaa Asantewa Road and the Kofi Adomako street. KCM is enclosed at its two ends where its two anchor tenants – Shoprite and Game - are housed and is semi-enclosed at its Food Court. The mall’s retail mix, a respectable number of which are fancied local Ghanaian brands, includes grocery and foodstuff, beauty and fashion, electronics, banking, telecommunications, restaurants and eateries, a night club and children’s entertainment.

Unlike other malls in Accra, nearly half of Kumasi City Mall’s 66 tenants and line shops are Ghanaian owned, a pleasant attestation to the entrepreneurial deftness of the people of Kumasi. In terms of parking for cars, KCM is easily the roomiest commercial facility in the country with a 1,200 car parking bay, including what is now understood to be the biggest basement (undercover) parking facility in the country.

Its architectural design is decisively customized to synchronize with the local environment, culture and the identity of the city and its people - with the mall’s exterior, columns and ceiling formations vividly depicting elements of the tropical rain forest which characterise the vegetation, landscape and wealth of the Ashanti Region.

A convergence of dreams

If the people of Kumasi are so affectionate about their mall, it is because there is a special synergy between the facility and the people for whom it was built – a sentiment (feeling or reaction) which can be traced as high up as to the overlord of Asanteman himself, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II and which, as it turns out, was nurtured long before the Delico Group commenced physical development of the mall at Asokwa in Kumasi.

As far back as 2012, Delico’s vision of extending its footprints beyond Accra to the city of Kumasi found common ground with the strong desire of the Asantehene himself to see the development of a modern address for business and recreation in Kumasi. It would be recalled that on June 6, 2014, a hearty and hopeful Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, personally cut the sod for commencement of the Kumasi City Mall project amidst the usual ceremony of pomp and pageantry; what is less known publicly, is the backstage role and the influence which the monarch brought to bear to ensure that nothing obstructed the delivery of the first shopping mall in Kumasi and the entire Ashanti region.

Otumfuo’s towering influence

At the sod-cutting ceremony in 2014, the Chairman of Kumasi City Mall, Mr. Kofi Sekyere, himself a native of Kumasi, is remembered as having said that it was hardly a coincidence that none other than Otumfuo Osei Tutu II himself was the personality cutting the sod for the KCM project to start.

Mr. Sekyere said although his team had been privileged to deal with many well-meaning people who embraced Delico’s vision of delivering a modern shopping mall to the city of Kumasi, none had so wholeheartedly championed it as much as His Majesty, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II.

On many occasions, especially following the completion and launch of West Hills Mall, the Asantehene had engaged Mr. Sekyere and encouraged him to consider the prospect of bringing a mall to Kumasi. The monarch’s request seemed to be based on simple logic: If you have helped put a fine mall like West Hills in Accra, strive to build one in Kumasi, your own hometown!

Otumfuo was so passionate about having a modern mall in Kumasi that he personally threw his weight and influence behind the initial development effort to ensure that all obstacles were cleared for the project to take off.

“I and my colleagues in Delico can recall the several discussions about the Kumasi mall project which we had with the King during his visits to South Africa.... and the valuable counsel, direction and inspiration we drew from him in our efforts to overcome the many challenges we occasionally encountered as we embarked on the project,” Mr. Sekyere recalled. “From the very beginning therefore, Otumfuo has so ardently upheld the idea of delivering to his beloved capital city, a modern shopping complex along the scale of Accra Mall and West Hills Mall, and has supported us all the way in that direction,” Mr. Sekyere declared.

A gesture of gratitude

It could only have been in recognition of the significant role the King played in the development of this very special mall that the Delico Group decided to immortalise its appreciation and gratitude by naming the shopping mall’s popular Food Court after the King’s mother and the immediate past Queenmother of Ashanti.

Said Kofi Sekyere on May 10, just before a monument dedicating the Food Court to the memory of the Queenmother was jointly unveiled by the President and Otumfuo: “Nana, we cannot thank you enough! Nana, ye da wo ase a, ensa! But in our own humble way, we would like to acknowledge and recognise your support for this project by naming the Food Court in the mall after our late Queenmother and your own mother – Nana Afia Serwaa Kobi Ampem II.

“With your kind permission therefore, our Food Court shall be christened “Nana Afia Serwaa Kobi Ampem II Food Court” from today onwards,” he said.

So, if the people of Kumasi are so passionate about their mall, it is because Kumasi City Mall is not just another shopping mall; it is an asset of high economic, as well as sentimental value which comes with a lot of promise for the King and the people of Ashanti. No wonder, Otumfuo himself strongly affirms that Kumasi City Mall is destined to blossom into the most successful shopping mall in the country.

Ends.