Beautiful Tejuosho market, yet to seduce traders, shoppers

< Previous

1 of 10

Next >

Tejuosho Shopping Complex, Yaba, Lagos State. PHOTO: AYODELE ADENIIRAN

Tejuosho Shopping Complex, Yaba, Lagos State

Three years after the completion of Phase I and II of the Tejuosho Shopping Complex, Yaba, Lagos State, and 10 years after the old Tejuosho Market got burnt, many of the shops within the brand new shopping complex are still under lock and key, with no occupants.

The once boisterous market, now site of a sprawling modern market seems unattractive to both sellers and buyers, despite being built to take buying and selling to the next level.

A visit to the facility last week revealed that the market is divided into two- Tejuosho Ultra-modern Shopping Centre, managed by Tejuosho Property and Development Company, and Tejuosho Shopping Complex, managed by MRI Investments Limited.

In the day when the hustle and bustle of such facility should be at its peak, the reverse is usually the case here, as many of the shops remain shut. Curiously, hordes of residential houses on surrounding streets have been partially converted to blocks of shops.

Be they bungalows or storey buildings, shops are still sprouting up everywhere around the adjoining streets, and traders are scrambling for every available space and shop.

Unlike the new Tejuosho Market, which is purpose built, with all appurtenances, the collection of shops around the residential houses have no such facilities, neither are they spacious enough to allow seamless trading activities.

The journey to the new-look Tejuosho Market started in 2007, when a fire incident occurred in the erstwhile local market, resulting in the loss of goods worth hundreds of millions of naira.

As a result of the fire incident, the state government intervened to reconstruct the market, through a partnership with two banks. Expectedly, after the reconstruction, the rent for each shop shut up astronomically, with a very high number of those who hitherto had shops in the old market incapable of renting or buying shops in the ultra-modern facility.

Chukwuma Umeh, who owns a shop opposite the new Tejuosho Market, is one of those not convinced about moving into the new shopping c
omplex.

According to him, many of those who rented shops in the ultra-modern market are regretting doing so, as they are battling to recoup their investments. Those, who bought shops outright hardly make enough sales to justify their investments. This, he said, made some of them to abandon their shops and opt for those within the fringes of the complex.

Umeh, who claimed that most buyers preferred to shop in the open market, as against the shopping complex, added that the exorbitant rent was the chief reason traders are shunning the new facility.

Shoppers and motorists that use the car park within the facility are also to part with N300, while N50 is charged per use of the convenience. Beside the high rent, shop owners are also expected to pay service charge, which many of them claimed was equally on the high side, and does not include electricity bill. The service charge ranges from N1, 500 to N9, 500, depending on the nature of the shop.

Other than the high rent, another reason some traders advanced for not moving back into the new complex after it was completed is the fear of losing their valued customers since it took years to reconstruct the complex, after it was gutted by fire.

A shop owner in the complex, who preferred anonymity revealed that some of his colleagues, who returned to the complex upon its completion regretted their action because even after paying so much, they were allocated shops in very obscure parts of the facility.

Shehu Ahmed, who laments that the place is usually in darkness once public power supply goes off, wants the facility managers to up their game in this direction.
On the low shoppers’ traffic to the complex, he said, “if shoppers continue to have the option of buying outside the shopping complex, then they would prefer to patronise the roadside shops, rather than venture into the shopping complex.”

Ahmed is, however, optimistic that the complex would soon become a boisterous shopping centre, even though it might take some time. General Manager of Tejuosho Property Development Company, (one of the two companies running the facility), Edward Stevenson, disagrees that stores/shops in the complex were unattractive to traders and shoppers.

While claiming that some of the stores in its section were vacant because the complex was yet to officially open, he added that even though they were behind schedule, by September the shopping complex doors would be flung open to traders and shoppers officially.

Stevenson said his firm is working assiduously to ensure the facility provides a blend of upscale and low-scale shopping experiences. “Tejuosho Ultra-modern Shopping Centre, has four floors of over a thousand shops and a basement car park. The ground floor has majority of anchor tenants, the first floor and second floors have various sections devoted for boutiques, cosmetics, kiddies, shoes, bags, phones and accessories, textiles, curtains and beddings, and general purpose. The third floor is the food court, with 21 restaurants, a radio station, six screen cinemas, gaming arena, and offices.”

He said about 50 per cent of the 1, 600 stores have been taken up, noting that an average shopping centre has about 100 stores and only a handful have achieved 100 per cent occupancy.

According to him, “We had to make expensive and time-consuming structural transformation to the building to accommodate such anchor tenants. We are doing this because we realise that for Tejuosho Market to capture its old glory, it must be presented to a new generation of shoppers, whose preferences and tastes have evolved over time.

“Our efforts have started yielding fruits as we have been able to attract anchor tenants and high profile brands that will be opening soon. In a way, other tenants that have taken up stores here are also waiting for the anchor tenants to begin operations before they open. This is expected from experience running shopping centres in the last four decades.”

On the claim by traders that the rent and service charges were high, Stevenson disagreed, saying a breakdown of N6, 966, 000, which is the amount for a 10.8sqm space for 25 years, comes to N280, 000 per year and N23, 333 per month.

“In terms of how much it costs per square metre (sqm), the figure is at about N2, 160 per sqm, which is about $7. There is arguably no other shopping centre that offers standard facilities that is this affordable! Another advantage of a long lease is the fact that traders are insulated from arbitrary rate increments. This gives traders absolute peace of mind to focus on running their businesses smoothly.

“Around the environs, many of the traders currently on the street actually pay much more, if they add up what they pay daily for their street kiosks. Despite the obvious advantages, we are still working out different payment modules and terms to make it easier for intending tenants, because Tejuosho is a home for all, and we are committed to seeing this happen.”

Responding to talks about the facility appearing unattractive to shoppers, Stevenson said this could be because it has missed opening dates due to circumstances often beyond its control.

“Because of the structural transformation currently underway, we are still spending more money on the facility. This is an investment that is yet to return profits, hence we are shouldering heavy financial responsibilities. Shocks in the economy usually take its toll on operations, as prices surge and project timelines consequently get extended. Despite all these, we are committed to delivering a shopping centre that every Lagosian will be proud of.

He said: “For a shopping centre of this magnitude and size to be successful, it must open with a minimum number of shops that will catalyse business activities. To encourage uptake and completion of ownership, we have embarked on a sensitisation campaign to present the facts about Tejuosho and showcase the progress we have made so far. Businesses are already open and they are already taking advantage of the high traffic and world-class services to post very strong performance results.

“Another challenge is the street trading activities around the shopping centre. This is hampering free flow of business and even traffic into the facility. We have made and keep making efforts to work with key stakeholders to relocate those trading on streets, often illegally, and move them into the centre’s premises, where they can have peace of mind and pay less. This has yielded quite positive results, but we are not stopping just yet. Our goal is to bring in as many traders as possible.”

He, however, said that his organisation is not relenting in efforts geared towards making the centre a preferred destination for shoppers, even as he boasted that what it is doing, no other centre in the country has done it, that is, combining all the positive elements of the street trader, up-and-coming small businesses, with that of formal and even international retail stores.

“We encourage people to come in for a tour, and they become convinced upon seeing the level of transformation from a market to a modern shopping centre.” Efforts to get the facility manager of the Tejuosho Shopping Complex to comment were not successful.

At the shopping complex, The Guardian was directed to one Yomi Abodunrin, who said his boss was the right person to comment. He requested that questions be mailed to him. This was complied with, but no response came several days after that.