Exclusive: Developer confirms fourth Pantry store will be at Mall of Africa

Moneyweb can exclusively confirm that developer Attacq, which is building out Waterfall City in Johannesburg, has revealed that it will open a standalone Pantry by Marble premium convenience store in the precinct before the end of this year.

David Oosthuizen, development executive at Attacq, said on Tuesday that Mall of Africa signed the deal with Marble Hospitality on Monday.

Read:
Continued Waterfall City investment yields solid returns for Attacq
Attacq delivers double-digit growth as dividend climbs 26%

Pantry by Marble already has a pop-up store at the mall, which opened in mid-October, and likely used this as an opportunity to test the appetite of the Waterfall and broader Midrand/Kyalami/Woodmead/Beaulieu market.

Construction plans

Construction of the new Pantry store, which will be “about 1 300 square metres”, has been approved, according to Oosthuizen, and Attacq estimates this will cost R54.3 million.

He says Marble Hospitality will also invest a substantial amount of money in fitting out the store.

Pantry will occupy the western corner of Mall of Africa, along Karkloof Crescent. This will be directly opposite the new Aspire residential development, which is being built with joint venture partner Tricolt.

Listen/read:

The space for the store has come from a decision to move the two public transport (minibus taxi) hubs to a new space as they had outgrown their original facilities.

The new Izinga hub is located in the basement of the mall, with dedicated access from Simlak Drive, which runs along the southern edge of the mall (and beneath Waterfall City Park).

This move has left a lot of accessible space along Karkloof Crescent, which it will renovate to “create off-street parking”, explains Oosthuizen.

It will then “redevelop the corner of the mall” to create space for Pantry.

Together with Aspire “across the road”, which will have its own street-level retail and a piazza, “this will create a new hub that will really bring some new energy” to the precinct.

Taking the city forward …

Much of this direction comes after conversations with the landowner (the Waterfall Islamic Institute, founded by the Mia family) about how the developer takes the city forward.

“The big focus has been trying to create more energy [in] the city, create that walkable city, and [to] create on-street retail,” explains Oosthuizen.

The Pantry concept has been a runaway success since it opened in Rosebank in 2022.

It is one of many brands under the Marble Hospitality group, which was founded by businessman Gary Kyriacou and celebrity chef David Higgs in 2016, with its namesake Marble (in Rosebank) being the first high-end eatery it opened.

Since then it has added Saint and Zioux, along with a second Marble location at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town, which opened in December 2024.

Pantry has since added a standalone store in Hazelwood, Pretoria (November 2025), as well as a store in Bassonia in the south of Joburg (January 2026). The latter is the first Pantry outlet situated in a suburban shopping centre.

The original store, which is the only one to operate 24 hours, has a petrol forecourt as part of its core offering. This brings certain challenges with parking, which it doesn’t face at its second and third locations.

Attacq share price

The group has also confirmed a Pantry store at the Olympus development in Sandton and will also launch its first luxury hotel at the property.

The hotel will occupy two full floors of the second of the two Olympus towers.

Read:

The development, which is set for completion by the end of 2027, is directly opposite the Discovery head office (between it and LXX Sandhurst along Rivonia Road).

The twin-tower project is a partnership between Tricolt and JSE-listed Growthpoint Properties.

Listen to Suren Naidoo’s interview with Attacq CEO Jackie van Niekerk in this episode of The Property Pod (or read the highlights here):

You can also listen to this podcast on iono.fm here.