How Eastleigh’s BBS Mall, region’s largest shopping complex, attracts crowds with ‘Mini-Dubai’ vibe

For many Kenyans, the urge to satisfy their curiosity over what's driving the buzz at the Business Bay Square (BBS) Mall swells with every store that opens its doors inside the 130,000 square metres of retail space that has transformed a section of Eastleigh's landscape into what some refer to as a "Mini-Dubai".

When the mall opened its doors to the public nearly two years ago, many were drawn to it by its outside grandeur and scale, for which some wondered whether its numerous stalls, over 1,000, would gain occupancy with a dwindling state of formal retail penetration.

Nearly two years later, the mall, now the largest landmark in the Eastleigh neighbourhood, has withstood the test of time, having grown in the number of occupied spaces, unique retailers and vendors as well as experiences that make it unique compared to other malls in the country.

The opening of exciting shops and unique services has been one of the key highlights, helping retain a large flow of customers to the mall for actual shopping, fine dining, games, spa treatments and even gold trade.

Navigating the massive mall is made easy courtesy of the mall's placement of multiple maps and signages guiding visitors from as far as the Pumwani Maternity Hospital, where its striking image first comes to view, all the way to its main pedestrian entrances along General Waruinge Street and vehicle entry points near Eastleigh Boys High School.

Multi-signage plan

Unlike many malls that just set up a link to their locations on their websites without giving further details on pick-up points, drop off points and navigation maps, the BBS Mall has adopted a multi-signage plan that begins at the main entrances, welcoming you to hundreds of shops whose accessibility does not feel like solving a mathematical puzzle, thus giving visitors ample time to source for their spoils.

The signages consist of pick-up and drop-off points for taxi operators dropping passengers at the mall at the two main entrances along General Waruinge Street.

The pair of double entrances allows one to select the floor they wish to explore in the six-storey mall, as one leads to the ground floor and the other leads to the lower ground floor.

Visitors making their way to the mall via the vehicle entry points are led to the basement parking that offers over 1,500 affordable parking slots from where they can navigate their way up via the lifts, or the main escalator located at the centremost part of the mall, or stair cases located at on each end of every section of the mall.

Large directory

Majority of the visitors use the ground floor to access the mall where a large directory is pinned at the wall on the entryway as a guide to what is available on the building.

This is then complemented by a smaller floor plan pinned outside the lift on every floor as a guide on what to expect on every floor.

Other Topics To Read

• attracts crowds with ‘Mini-Dubai’ vibe
• Headlines
• Eastleigh
• Eastleigh
• BBS Mall
• Business Bay Square
• Mini-Dubai
• LC Waikiki
• Giordano
• Town Team
• banks BBS Mall
• How Eastleigh’s BBS Mall
• region’s largest shopping complex

Those opting to navigate the mall using the escalators have the option of relying on the digital display stands located at the start of every escalator indicating the shops to find at the floor.

While basement is purely reserved as parking space, the lower ground and ground floors are mainly occupied by stalls selling clothes, furniture, phones and their accessories, which one can never miss as they are labelled in zones using yellow-striped lamp stands pinned on the start of every aisle, making movement easy and stress free.

It is on these floors that most of the small business expos are showcased once in a while as majority of the stall owners, apart from the Gold Souk, are small business owners who have rented out single or double stalls for their retail items.

The first floor ushers you to the only supermarket at the mall, Carrefour, which occupies a huge space since the mall opened and remains a key attraction to shoppers with its direct to customer sales on WhatsApp, where offers are shared every morning, which helps retain a community of shoppers that are loyal to the outlet.

Fashion brands

It is also on this floor that renowned fashion brands such as LC Waikiki, Giordano and Town Team thrive.

Retailers on this floor such as Safaricom, Aboosto, Miniso, Diamond Trust Bank (DTB) and Art Caffé have rented out larger spaces making room for more customers and even more walk space. Coffee lovers can make do with the different flavours of Bobba Caffé at their stand on this floor as they take a break from shopping.

The second floor serves as the main eatery area, holding the majority of the 85 restaurants in the mall, amongst them CJs, fast food joints such as Chicken Inn, Pizza Inn, Creamy Inn and other local and foreign cuisine food courts.

The floor is also family friendly as on one corner, a huge segment is dedicated to different play areas catering both to adults and children to enjoy a variety of video games, pool table, bowling as well as a trampoline park.

Women’s spa needs are catered to here, where a wide range of services, including hair growth treatment,s are offered as well as multiple skin care shops.

A number of banks are also located here, as well as forex bureaus, ensuring that visitors' financial needs are catered to. Others are situated on other floors including the third and final one.

Mosque

Here, a mosque occupies arguably the largest space, making it easy for Muslims working at the mall or visiting to have their prayer needs catered to without having to exit the building.

Outside it, an executive shoe shining corner is on standby for whoever needs to have their shoes cleaned, polished or waxed as they pray.

"I know this is unique to many, but our clients like to have their shoes cleaned either as they pray or after prayers, that is why we are here," one of the shiners told The Eastleigh Voice.

Next time you plan on visiting the BBS Mall and are not sure which floor to find the item you want, check out its layout on its website.

Meanwhile, to bag an offer or an item on sale, customers coming from far away are advised to keep checking their favourite shops' social media pages or, better still, sign up for special deals as guided.

The best shopping time during weekdays is morning hours from 8 am to around mid-day when the shops have opened but the inflow of visitors has not peaked.