Encomium
Fun and excitement pervaded the ambience of the Ikeja City Mall, Lagos on Saturday August 9, 2014, when the management of the mall staged its second edition of fashion and music show. It was an event characterized with glitz and glamour, designed to showcase the summer collections of fashion stores in the mall and bring together the best of youthful celebrities, models and artistes to entertain shoppers who love to come to the mall.
The event tagged ICM Fashion and Music show paraded latest range of clothes from celebrated brands in the mall. As usual there was music, comedy and dance while models strutted on the runway with designs provided by the tenants in the mall. The red carpet started at 4pm with guests and shoppers taking pictures and networking. It was a full house with the management of ICM and other notable dignitaries in attendance. The fashion show proper kicked off at 5 pm with the Nigerian national anthem. Moments later, Maybrands, a fashion accessories store in the mall collaborating with a guest designer took center stage. Models flaunted Maybrand’s Emporio Armani, Fossil and Diesel wrist watches and other accessories such as necklaces and bracelets, all stainless steel. Nike later hit the runway with different themes including football jerseys. Other participating stores in the show included Foschini, Markham, Mango, Us Polo, Kidz Country, Wranglers , Jack & Jones, Black Up, Bruno’s Place, Casabella and Da Viva. General manager of the mall, Norman Sander talkes about this show and more…
What is the Ikeja City Mall Fashion and Music Show all about?
It is an event we stage at this time of the year in the mall. Our plan is to make it big in the social calendar that people will look out for it every year. It is an opportunity for our tenants to display their goods and do some sales. It is also an opportunity for the buyers to enjoy themselves, entertain themselves with music comedy and fashion and meet with the sellers or service providers. The mall actually belongs to the people who live around here.
What is the plan to continue this every year?
We have plans to showcase the fashion show every year. Like I said, we want to make it one of the social events people will always look forward to attend.
How would you rate the success of last year’s show?
Last years was good, this year is better and our subsequent editions will be much better. We will keep doing all our best to be better.
How have participating shop owners fared this years?
We have more shops participating with a lot of enthusiasm. The tenants have had a good year so they want more of it and to have it we have to make the customers feel good.
What would you say is responsible for the general improvement of the mall so far?
The mall is a place for everyone. People are used to coming here to shop and one way to keep them coming back is to entertain them hence the idea of the Ikeja City Mall Fashion and Music Show.
What prime advantage does Ikeja City Mall have over others around Lagos?
The advantages of shopping at the Ikeja City Mall are many. People do not only come to do one thing, but they come to do a lot. They come on shopping trips and stay up to two, three hours. They can have a meal, see movies, window shop, do cloth shopping, etc.
What is the future of Ikeja City Mall?
In future, I see the regular London shoppers doing all their shopping in Nigeria. We will encourage them to stay here and buy all that they need. It might take a long time to achieve that, but once the people know they can get the same quality stuffs here, Nigerians would stop going overseas to shop. I also see the growing middle class holding a royalty towards Ikeja City Mall where they could come for their shopping most of the time and get whatever they want.
What are the challenges of running the mall?
We don’t have much challenges. The mall has grown about 25 percent since last year, which is a good indication. People stay longer in the mall. More people visit the mall daily, a lot more cars come in too.
Retailers are also doing much better, depending on how much marketing and advertising they can do for themselves.
How affordable is the rent?
Retail shopping is about convenience, comfort, security all under one roof. We offer unique experiences in the sense that we are more like a community centre with a large variety of merchandise.
What new things are you bringing into the mall?
We are presently rewarding customers. We are building the brand and giving out lots of things. We have realised that Nigerians like to get something for nothing. Therefore, we will continue rewarding shoppers. We have given away meals, cash prizes, cars and so on for shopping in the mall. In future, we will be focusing on marketing. From time to time, we look at what we can improve, we look at what we should change and look at what we can add.
-FOLUSO SAMUEL
