A reflection of the Hotel Sky located in the Cape Town CBD. Photo: Armand Hough. African News Agency (ANA)
The Cape Town Central City economy has rebounded and is holding steady, despite warnings in the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic that the work-from-home trend would cripple central business districts globally,
“Not only are there more retail outlets than before the pandemic, but confidence among retailers and commercial property owners has soared – and has held up relatively well in early 2023, despite the weak national economy as severe load shedding takes its toll,” the Cape Town Central City Improvement District (CCID) said in a statement yesterday.
According to the latest business confidence survey conducted by the CCID, which promotes investment into the city centre, there are more than 3 000 businesses in the CBD and more than 1 200 are retail and entertainment entities.
Nearly 80% of 230 retailers surveyed by the CCID in the first quarter of this year indicated they were “satisfied” with current business conditions. This was a small deterioration from 83.3% in the fourth quarter of 2022, but a big improvement on the 22.9 % who were satisfied with trading conditions in mid-2020.
A key underpin of business confidence was that certain parts of the CBD were insulated from load shedding. This had been an important factor during the first quarter of 2023, when higher levels of load shedding were the norm.
In December 2019, a few months before the pandemic, there were 1 237 estimated retail outlets in the CBD. By the end of 2020, this had fallen to 1 163, but the sector adjusted quickly to easing lockdown restrictions and by the end of last year, the number had risen to an estimated 1 243, with new businesses continuing to open this year.
BUSINESS REPORT