Kwara Mall, Ilorin

Kwara Mall in Illorin, Kwara State capital, began trading in the last quarter of 2012. It is a 12,000 square-metre shopping mall. It is remodeled after American strip malls and is a joint venture between Persians Group and the Kwara State government, which gave the land as equity contribution to the project.

Shoprite is also the mall's anchor tenant, among other brands like Max, KFC, Wrangler, Da Viva, and a host of others. Great customer experiences are offered by the banks, restaurants, beauty salons, meeting places and more.

•Apapa Mall, Park Lane, Lagos. Over the last decade, shopping malls have evolved in the country, springing up across the states. TONIA 'DIYAN reports that the ubiquity of shopping malls has redefined shopping experience, created wealth, convenience and has given customers more freedom to choose.

There have been many developments in the retail sector since the advent of shopping malls 10 years ago when The Palms Shopping Mall, Lekki, Lagos opened shop. Before then, retail outlets were mainly urban-based - in major cities of the country. Today, the game has changed with many malls opening shop in second tier cities, such as Enugu, Kano, Warri, Owerri, Onitsha, Ilorin and Ibadan.

The retail business space continues to transform with the development of formal, western-style malls that also serve as popular hangouts and meeting points for busy chief executives, especially at weekends and during holidays. And the emergence of world-class shopping places has changed the way people shop, causing a tremendous boom in the industry and establishing Nigeria as a haven for retail shopping. Nigerians have, today, become better shoppers, especially in the area of buying at wholesale prices, not minding the quantity of items purchased.

In addition to the popularity of the malls, the developers say they are finding fulfillment more in Nigeria than any other country in Africa, where they have their businesses. According to them, more malls will spring up and they will be the trend for a long time.

After the two premier malls in Lagos, the retail trading scene has seen many more. While some have been delivered, many are at various stages of completion. Some of them stand out for reasons of size, strategic location, convenience and available infrastructure, among others.

Apapa mall, Lagos

The mall berthed in the Apapa area of Lagos has changed the face of retail in Nigeria's premier port city.

Before residents and workers in Apapa which is home to an estimated 522,384 people, according to data from the state government website, didn't have a world-class retail outlet to serve their shopping and relaxing needs.

This has, however, changed because shoppers experiences in Apapa and its environs have been enhanced.

The Palms Mall, Lekki

Towards the end of 2005, The Palms was opened, making history as the first of its kind in Nigeria. It is anchored by a South African supermarket chain, Shoprite, and diverse range of Nigerian retailers as well as international brands, such as Adidas and KFC, South African restaurant Spur, banks, pharmacies and mobile phone companies, such as MTN and Etisalat. Yudala, an offline retail store, has also opened shop there.

Construction was commissioned by the Oba of Lagos and former President Olusegun Obasanjo. The mall has 69 stores and a six screen cinema. There is parking space for about a 1000 cars.

Grand Towers, Abuja

After Lagos, Abuja was next; being one of the fastest growing cities in Africa. At that time, there were not really any shopping centres in Abuja. It was a big drive for Shoprite to open there. Grand Towers owns the land on which the shopping centre stands.

Port Harcourt Mall

Port Harcourt Mall (also known as Artee Mall) is in accordance with Spar's strategy for Nigeria. Spar stores in Nigeria as with its other stores in Sub-Saharan Africa position themselves as a higher quality alternative to the dominance of Shoprite.

Port Harcourt Mall features 16,000 sqm of lettable space and hosts cinemas (Film houses) and eateries.

Adeniran Ogunsanya Mall, Surulere

The mall is sitting on a 22,000 sq. metres of land with 154 shop spaces measuring 70-80 sq. metres each, making it one of the largest shopping malls in Lagos. The re-modeled mall delivers world-standard shopping experience to residents of Surulere and its environs. This is evident in its tenant-base, which includes top brands such as Shoprite, Snowy Drycleaners, Stanbic IBTC Bank, KFC, Nando's, La Pizza, Sharp Electronics, Sony, Swatch, Nike, and others.

The mall is an offshoot of a pre-existing shopping centre that was "conceived, built and inaugurated in 1975 as the icing on the cake for Surulere residents".