Feature: Chinese mall spices up Zimbabwean capital's weekend fun

For decades, the western suburb of Harare is known for a grandiose sports stadium and an imposing memorial park for the country's revolution martyrs. But today, Zimbabweans flock to the place over the weekend for another reason- - to refresh themselves in a Chinese mega shopping mall.

Situated on a 14-hectare piece of flat land, the mall comprises of the 18,000 square meters Horizon Ivato Supermarket, a three hectare children's amusement park, a hardware shop, a fresh produce section, wholesale department and an array of office blocks housing various businesses ranging from banks, clinic, pharmacies, beauty salons, gym, restaurants, bars and nightclubs.

The 100 million U.S. dollars Longcheng Plaza has indeed brought an alternative shopping experience and weekend outing. There, you meet all kinds of people from Indians, Chinese, Zimbabweans and Europeans, proving how popular it has become.

The Amu Semene Children's Park has so far emerged as the mall's jade on the crown.

Attracting on average 50,000 visitors per month, the exquisite place is a rich park that offers exciting activities to children ranging from trampolines, fun slide, jungle gym and bungee jumping for teenagers.

"I once came here on business and I liked the children's park. This is why I have brought my family here so that they can have fun in the park at a very reasonable price," said a 26-year old father of two, Moses Moyo.

He said the children's park charged reasonable prices and offered a wide range of activities.

The bigger space, lavish green lawn as well as the secure and lively environment offered by the park was now attracting many parents to host their children's birthday parties there.

Godfrey Nota, a parent who was hosting a one-year birthday party for his son, had full praises of the children's park.

"The park is unique. The equipment in here is modern and there are lots of children's activities on offer. We saw it as an ideal place to host a birthday party for our son because the venue is for free and there are also many children here who can help our child to celebrate his birthday," he said.

For 26-year old hairdresser Sharon Nemaungwe, the opening of the mall had enabled her to get a job just at a time when she had lost one after a salon she was working for in town closed.

"When I started working here in May last year there were not many clients coming but now they are picking up. There is huge potential for our business as more and more people are being attracted to this place because it's a one-stop shop," said the hairdresser.

While the shopping mall has captured many Harare residents, the owners say they are not done yet, and have plans to further expand the facility and add more services.

Shawn Ma, the property manager said the owners wanted to build a first level shopping mall with world class facilities in the first five years of the project up to 2018, and had plans to further acquire land close to the National Sports Stadium for the expansion of the mall into an integrated first class business mall in 10 years.

Ma saw the shopping mall as a win-win investment that was benefiting both Zimbabwe and China, adding that while economic activity was currently subdued in Zimbabwe, they were ready for the situation and were confident of better prospects in the future.

For Ma, the shopping mall is not only a business venture but also presents an exciting opportunity for Zimbabwe and China to enhance people-to-people ties and cultural exchanges. Endi