Industry news

Where adventure meets retail

The new Cape Union Mart Adventure Centre is a store South Africans can be proud of. European visitors to the 2010 FIFA World Cup next year will see that it compares well with the best in European retailing — indeed showing “anything they can do, we can do better.”

It is one one of Africa’s largest outdoor adventure centres — a huge double storey 2 200m² standalone “pod” at the Canal Walk Shopping Centre in Cape Town.

A two-storey high climbing wall, cold chamber, rain chamber and footwear station allows customers to test gear in the tough conditions they will have to withstand when worn — a thermal monitor in the icy chamber even tells you if your clothing is warm enough to maintain body temperature.

A spider box, jelly fish tank, bug holograms and mini-climbing wall keep the kids entertained, while the entrance area will be used for talks by outdoor celebrities like Martin Dreyer, Everest climber John Black, and Braam Malherbe who ran the length of the Great Wall of China.

But it is the spacious, shopper-friendly, well-signposted rugged store design that impresses most. Filled with an impressive variety of top outdoor brands — and extensive ranges of most of them — it offers a shopping experience that could very much become a pleasant outing.

“Cyclical downturns are opportunities for long term investments and South Africans who believe in the country’s potential should stop bemoaning the present and rather embrace the future,” Philip Krawitz, Cape Union Mart Group CEO, said at the opening of the store.

This store is indeed a step into the future.