Five win big in Jozi’s Shopping festival

26 October 2015

 

Five shoppers received much more than they bargained for when they shopped until they dropped during the recent Johannesburg Shopping Festival (JSF) – fabulous prizes totalling R1 million.

 

The festival was staged between September 23 and October 4, during which thousands of fashionistas descended on four of Johannesburg’s top shopping meccas – Eastgate Mall, Oriental Plaza, Sandton City and Rosebank Mall – for unbelievable deals, specials and prizes.

 

This year’s festival was staged in partnership with the City of Johannesburg, Visa, Gauteng Tourism Authority, South African Airways, City Lodge, Gautrain and Uber.

This is the second year that the JSF was held in the city. More than 500 retailers took part.

 

During a prize-giving function at Maslow Hotel in Sandton, Shamaine Pakiry was named the winner of the grand prize – an all-expenses paid trip to the 2016 Dubai Shopping Festival courtesy of Visa.

 

Valued at R300 000, the prize will take Pakiry and her husband on an amazing trip that includes luxurious accommodation at the seven-star Grand Millennium Dubai Hotel, business class flights on South African Airways, spending money and a personal shopper to maximise the experience.

 

Four other lucky shoppers drove home in brand new Fiat 500 cars. They are Marilyn Cohen de Villiers, Anna Horne, Pequilia Nkale and Thabiso Madihlaba. De Villiers said she entered the competition after a shopping spree at Rosebank Mall and was delighted with her new hot-pink Fiat 500.

 

“It just goes to show that things like this can happen to anyone,” she said.

 

Councillor Ruby Mathang, the City of Johannesburg’s Member of the Mayoral Committee for Economic Development, said the JSF was a welcome addition to the city’s social and lifestyle calendar and played an immensely positive role in the local economy.

 

“The festival increases both retail and visitor spending in the city by attracting both local and international visitors as well as offering SMMEs the opportunity to capitalise on this increased traffic. Around the world, shopping festivals bring in enormous revenue, and this is not limited to the malls. The JSF will encourage high-spend tourists to explore the city and drive footfall to local attractions, restaurants and other retail outlets. With the JSF, we hope to create an iconic annual event that will be a feature of the global shopping calendar in years to come to support the economic development of the city,” said MMC Mathang.