According to the World Bank, the Ethiopian economy has been growing at an average of 10.6% for the last 10 years, twofold compared to the Sub-Saharan average.⁽²⁾ Even people very critical of the Ethiopian Government seem to concede that there are certain definite strides that the country has made in basic infrastructure, education, health care, and the service sector.⁽³⁾ One of the things that strikes many foreign tourists as well as Ethiopians who come back to the country after years of absence, are the number of buildings under construction in Addis Ababa and many other major cities around the country.

Among the newly built buildings, some are now serving as shopping centres – which are new additions to the traditional open air markets and small retail shops. The typical marketplace is an open air market that provides a variety of consumer goods (including manufactured consumer goods such as clothes, soaps, and dry cell batteries), staple crops (such as teff, wheat, sorghum, maize, beans, chick beans, etc.), cash crops (like coffee and oilseeds), fruits and vegetables, etc. These traditional markets are also stages for social interactions and cultural transactions. Some people go there not only to buy or sell goods but also to meet relatives and friends. A few may even visit marketplaces in order to gather or give information regarding some crucial matters,, such as choosing their future spouses, to look for and kill one’s adversary with whom they have a blood-feud, or simply to enjoy the fragrance and sight of the colourful buffet of materials for sale. The marketplace is, in short, a cultural mosaic where every kind of transaction is going on. In view of this long-standing and well-established market tradition and other forms of social relations, supermarkets, shopping centres, department stores and malls are novel phenomena in Ethiopia.

This CAI paper discusses newly emerging malls in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, compared to the prevailing market forms, which are open air and periodic markets in both urban and rural areas. It especially considers why these new shopping centres were initially conceived as impermeable entities by many. At a later stage, the paper also touches upon how these malls are increasingly becoming expressions of fashion and modern tastes.

Black boxes

Newly emerging shopping centres are referred as 'black boxes' in the context of the longstanding tradition of open air markets in the country.⁽⁴⁾ In the presence of open air markets, newly built shopping centres are black boxes to be inspected; they may even deter many from approaching and experiencing them.

It is important to note that the prevailing mode of economy in Ethiopia is, to this date, a peasant subsistence economy.⁽⁵⁾ Consequently, periodic rural markets and open air markets in urban areas are more the rule than the exception. One can therefore imagine the jump from this gamut of traditional markets and small retail shops to the newly emerging and multi-storied shopping buildings whose façades give them rather majestic looks built for non-market purposes. Moreover, these buildings do not seem to functionally and spatially integrate with the communities and lifestyles surrounding them. For example, in the area which is regarded as the biggest open air market in Africa, namely Markato, which is located in the western part of Addis Ababa, newly built malls are sprung here and there. Thus, given the prevailing market tradition, there does not seem to be a link in function between the two types of markets. Besides, as many of the people living in the area are downtrodden economically, the houses that cover much of the area are also in poor condition. Dilapidated houses with mad walls and corroded corrugated iron sheet tops are seen adjacent to and all around a glittering and high rising shopping centre.   

In fact, as captured in the interviews conducted with people who own shops in the malls, these shop owners as well as owners of the malls themselves do seem to realise all the incongruities. Consequently, they use different means to attract customers. Television and radio advertisements are usually utilised for this purpose and they somehow improve things, especially in terms of attracting more and more customers. But it is also observed ⁽⁶⁾ that the effects of some commercials could do the opposite of their intention: They may ward off potential customers instead of attracting them. One typical example is an advertisement that brags about the cleanliness and tidiness of a mall known as Teferra Business Centre. The ad, which ran on Ethiopian television in 2008,⁽⁷⁾ even alludes to the untidiness and ‘filthy’ nature of the market quarters in the city, saying “you will never be soiled by mud and dirt if you come to us” while showing a couple preparing to go to the shopping centre dressed up as if they were going to a wedding party. One may ask at this point what is then unhelpful about this. In the first place, ‘true’ markets are not supposed to be clean. Their untidiness is perceived to be part and parcel of their very essence. But, more importantly, markets are supposed to be where you should move freely, without being dressed formally and without giving any due attention to whether the dust on the bottom of your shoes spoils the floor of any of the shops.

Opening up the boxes and finding the scripts

For reasons just pointed out, the malls under discussion might be considered black boxes. However, opening up the boxes and reading the scripts reveals that they are increasingly perceived as shopping and entertainment centres. Many shop owners seem to feel that getting shops or slots in these malls is to be at the heart of the new and modern lifestyles that the country is moving towards.⁽⁸⁾ Indeed, the designs of the newly built shopping centres appear to reflect their sensitivity towards things contemporary. In a way, the architects are inscribing new shopping styles and commercial transactions on top of enabling owners of these shopping centres to sail an uncharted sea of profits. Although, at first, these malls might win the favour of only a few people, they also create new customers. As pointed out by interviewees at the beginning of February 2013, these markets have in fact started to attract new shoppers for various reasons. One university professor in his thirties had this to say:

    I know many of the malls around the Bole area… I have in fact a mixed feeling about them. On the one hand, I find most of the goods at these shops in the malls too expensive. But, on the other hand, I am happy to go to these shops because I can find goods with well known brands. Besides, most of the shoppers have some kind of distinction, a class. You know, ordinary people – people who do not afford to pay – do not dare to go there. Thus, shopping in the malls accords me some kind of status. I get my hair cut in a very fashionable barber shop in Getu Commercial Centre. It has been two years since I started to go to that particular barber shop. I like it so much. You see only rich business people and government officials. If you go to Piazza [which is one of the oldest parts of the town], you simply flow with the masses, ordinary mortals. By contrast, in Getu Commercial Centre and other malls everything is neat and clean. Going there gives me the opportunity to taste the flavour of modernity. In short, for me, taste of the mall is taste of the Western world.

As learnt from respondents,⁽⁹⁾ many young men and women appreciate not only the functionality of the malls (such as getting everything under one roof) but also the fashionable and chicly nature of the shops as well as the shoppers. Interviews the author conducted at the beginning of February 2013 corroborate this perception. A woman in her late 40s said:

    I really enjoy going to the malls. I feel happy and elated. I like the whole ambience. When I first went to one of them a few years back, I thought I was in a foreign country… These malls have really freed me from the crammed and stuffy nature of the shops in places like Markato. In Markato or Piazza, one could not distinguish original or quality goods from that of the fake and counterfeit. Even if I may not buy anything, I go to the malls and stroll around, just for window-shopping… When I go to these shops, I feel as if I am civilized, modern, and well-off.

In fact, the shopping centres in question are not only shopping centres as such but also civic centres. People meet and transact values. The restaurants in the malls are meeting places for people who think that they share similar social standing. There are also clear indications that these shopping centres are actively contributing in forging social classes. People enjoy the physical distance from other shoppers. This physical distance is also symbolic of the social distance that such people might want to create.⁽¹⁰⁾

Other respondents do also express their dissatisfaction with the malls. A woman in her early fifties expressed that most of the shops in the malls do not have affordable prices. She said: “They tell you high price for goods which are nothing but cheap Chinese made products. I do not feel at ease when I go to these shopping centres. I have visited countries such as the United States and South Africa, where you can see real malls. It is really very difficult for me to consider these as malls.” Another respondent in her early thirties commented that the malls are only for show-offs. There are also other respondents who have a misgiving about certain particularities. An interviewee in her early thirties noted that she feels very uncomfortable when she happens to visit the malls. She especially does not like the attitude of the sellers because they look down on customers like her. In this respect, due to existing and prevailing traditions of the open air markets and relatively modest street shops, the imposing nature of the designs of the newly built malls, and the exorbitant prices they offer, these shopping malls cater to small groups of people.

Concluding remarks

These shopping centre designs are just surfacing. They are new phenomena to Ethiopia. They are, in other words, cultural patterns in the making. And their growth is clearly imminent. More and more of them are progressively coming. This would result in two separate but related dynamics. On the one hand, new lifestyles are emerging, followed by a new culture of consumerism, and, on the other hand, the formation of snobbish behaviour appears (including on the part of those who cannot afford to frequently partake in these new lifestyles). As far as the first phenomenon is concerned, it can be concluded that the new shopping centres at issue (including the restaurants, cafés, beauty salons, and tattooing shops within them) are moulding, as Jon Goss would say, ‘collective identity’.⁽¹¹⁾ These days, for many people in Addis Ababa, the newly built shopping centres do not seem to be black boxes anymore. People increasingly perceive them as alternative markets.

But then – more in relation to the second aspect (snobbery) – the newly built environment also serves to display or screen fantasies. When people stroll around and buy items from stylistic shops, and enjoy caramel macchiato, frappuccino and delectable ice creams in cafés with foreign or exotic names, they would feel (at least momentarily) as if they are transported to a different world. Some would be imagining New York, Los Angeles, Beijing, Bangkok, Paris and London while enjoying talks and sweets in trendy cafés in Addis Ababa. Others would dream that that they have joined the world of the affluent when they can shop from classy and expensive shops.  

Written by Setargew Kenaw ⁽¹⁾

NOTES:

(1) Contact Setargew Kenaw through Consultancy Africa Intelligence's Industry and Business Unit ( industry.business@consultancyafrica.com). This CAI discussion paper was developed with the assistance of Gaylor Montmasson-Clair and was edited by Nicky Berg.
(2) 'Ethiopia economic update – overcoming inflation, raising competitiveness’, World Bank, December 2012, http://www.worldbank.org.
(3) Abate, T., ‘Most troubling facts about Ethiopia’, Ethiomedia, 15 December 2012, http://ethiomedia.com.
(4) Kenaw, S., 2009. “Shopping centres as black boxes: A reflection in philosophy of engineering design”, in Ege, S., et al. (eds.). Proceedings of the sixteenth international conference of Ethiopian studies (2-6 July 2007), Norwegian University of Science and Technology: Trondheim.
(5) Abegaz, B., 2005. Persistent stasis in a tributary mode of production: The peasant economy of Ethiopia. Journal of Agrarian Change, 5(3), pp. 299-333.
(6) Kenaw, S., 2009. “Shopping centres as black boxes: A reflection in philosophy of engineering design”, in Ege, S.,et al. (eds.). Proceedings of the sixteenth international conference of Ethiopian studies (2-6 July 2007), Norwegian University of Science and Technology: Trondheim.
(7) Ibid.
(8) Ibid.
(9) Ibid.
(10) Ibid.
(11) Goss, J., 1999. One-upon-a-time in the commodity world: An unofficial guide to Mall of America. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 89(1), pp. 45-75.