Westgate Shopping Mall (also known as Westgate) is an

upscale shopping In economics, a luxury good (or upmarket good) is a good for which demand increases more than what is proportional as income rises, so that expenditures on the good become a greater proportion of overall spending. Luxury goods are in contrast to n ...

mall located in the

Westlands Westlands is an affluent, mixed-use commercial and residential neighbourhood in Nairobi. Location Westlands is located approximately , by road, northwest of the central business district of Nairobi. The geographical coordinates of the neighb ...

division of

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...

, Kenya. It was first opened in 2007.

Overview

The five-storey mall opened in 2007 and included of retail space and housed more than 90 stores.

Nakumatt Nakumatt was a Kenyan supermarket chain. "Nakumatt" is an abbreviation for Nakuru Mattress. Overview , Nakumatt had 65 stores in the African Great Lakes countries of Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania. It employed over 5,500, and had gross an ...

and Planet Media Cinemas anchored the mall. Other large units included Identity,

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Home, Artcaffe, and

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on the ground floor, and Millionaires Casino on the second floor. Smaller units included outlets for international brands

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, CFC Stanbic Bank,

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, and

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. The luxury shopping center was popular with Kenya's new consumer class, as well as foreign officials and expatriates.

2013 attack

On 21 September 2013, a group of 4 terrorists associated with the al-Shabaab militant group wounded and killed customers, employees and visitors at the Westgate mall in an extended attack, using firearms and hand grenades. At least 68 people were reportedly killed, with over 200 injured. The terrorists held many customers hostage and it took four days to end the attack. By 25 September, three floors of the mall had collapsed because of it.

Reopening

The mall reopened on 18 July 2015. Parts of the mall which were badly damaged in the terrorist attack underwent further reconstruction and remained closed until 2018. Legal proceedings with the insurer delayed reconstruction. About 90% of previous tenants of Westgate retained their leases, and IRG, an Israeli security company, was hired to train the mall's new security staff. The mall's reopening was met with mixed reactions. Some hailed it as a demonstration of Nairobi's resilience in the face of terrorism, while others criticised it as disrespectful to the victims, suggesting that it should be converted to a memorial site or a place of worship instead.

References

{{Portal bar, Kenya Shopping malls established in 2007 Shopping malls in Nairobi 2007 establishments in Kenya

Overview

2013 attack

Reopening

See also

References