Melcom Limited, Ghana’s largest and most popular retail department store chain, opens at West Hills Mall (WHM), bringing one of the store’s biggest and best-stocked outlets to residents in the cluster of communities on the west side of Accra.
The retail giant commences trading as an anchor tenant at West Hills Mall today, Thursday, February 1, 2024, ending anxious speculations by the shopping public which appeared to have noticed signs of Melcom’s move to the mall since December last year.
True to stature, Melcom opens in a big and impressive fashion on the east wing of the mall, taking up a massive 5,917.8 square metres of trading space and displaying approximately 27,000 consumer merchandise in a typically convivial Melcom-style setup.
West Hills Mall’s branch of Melcom becomes the latest of a chain of 67 retail outlets located in regions, districts and communities across the country, and it is no surprise that retail market watchers have already tagged the move as a highly transformational one for both the 35-year-old retailing giant and the revamped, now bustling West Hills Mall.
The whizzes predict a radical upswing, not just in foot traffic for Accra’s biggest shopping centre, but more importantly, invaluable business, in the favour of Melcom, West Hills Mall, and the average shopper in the community.
At West Hills Mall, Melcom brings to its customers a huge and varied collection of consumer items in different product categories, which include Groceries, Home Décor, Furniture, Household and Kitchen-ware, Electrical and Lighting Products, Stationery, Exercise Equipment, Toys and Art Kitchen - with all-day dining options.
The Joint Group Managing Director of Melcom Group, Mr Mahesh Melwani, said, “Our stores have something for everyone and for every home or office.
We source our products from all over the world, which enables us to offer our customers a vast range of extremely affordable goods.”
“In keeping with the Group's commitment to providing Ghanaians with the paramount shopping experience, we have embraced the need to keep up with the dynamic shifts in consumer tastes, preferences and trends,” he told journalists today.
Mr Melwani said that the Melcom Group’s customer profile encompassed all segments of Ghanaian society, resulting in a company policy that was highly customer-oriented, which explained why Melcom maintained uniform prices in all their outlets across the country.
“West Hills Mall is more than thrilled to have Melcom, a major player in the country’s retail market, among our family of tenants.
Undoubtedly, Melcom’s arrival will serve to transform and enrich the overall shopping experience of our cherished customers,” said WHM Centre Manager, Mr Jacob Quarmson.
“Melcom at West Hills Mall certainly makes a strong retail destination for this part of the city.
The supermarket (Melcom) is a premium store and will surely impact the tempo of shopping and the landscape of the mall.
This is part of a larger redevelopment strategy of the asset, meant to bring value and quality retail to West Hills Mall," Mr Quarmson added.
Many residents of communities in the Accra West area are excited for various reasons, but mostly for the convenience which Melcom’s arrival at the mall seems to bring to them; others, possibly pure loyalists of Melcom, are simply excited to have their favourite store come closer to home under one roof.
A banker resident at Bortianor, Mr Andy Bediako, said, “Convenience is the biggest thing we get from Melcom’s arrival here.
I shop at both West Hills and Melcom, and for the past three years, I have always had to leave my car at the West Hills car park, which is safe and spacious, and walk all the way to the former Melcom store outside the mall.
What can be more convenient than doing all your shopping at a single secure and well-laid-out location like our West Hills Mall?”
Located at New Weija, off the Accra-Cape Coast Highway, West Hills Mall is Accra’s biggest shopping centre, which boasts one of the biggest car parks in the city – a 1,400-capacity parking bay with a third of its slots secured in an undercover basement.
Security and personal safety on the premises are critical to West Hills Mall and are, therefore, rigidly enforced by a coordinated security regime consisting of an omnipresent team of professional ground security guards, supported by a 24-hour electronic surveillance system.
Besides all the bustling business at West Hills Mall, it is also the west side’s principal destination for entertainment, recreation and social rendezvous, as the facility boasts of a five-lounge cinema, a frisky children’s playground, regular live musical and celebrity shows and an irresistible food court, which houses popular fast food vendors such as Barcelos, New York Sizzlers Restaurant, the Addos Ghanaian dishes restaurant, Basilissa and Pizza Inn.
West Hills Mall has about 60 line shops, offering customers a mix of international and Ghanaian brands from varied product categories, including groceries, clothing and lifestyle items, beauty and wellness, electronic and communications, pharmaceuticals, banking and financial services.