Benmore Shopping Centre — Attraction in Gauteng

I have to share my experience I visited Benmore today to do my essentials shopping. I always park at the parking lot where Fournos Bakery is. I was distracted today as I had my toddler with me and forgot my two shopping bags hanging on the trolley. I only realized this when I got home and unpacked the car. I immediately drove back to Benmore to find the security guard Alfred Nong holding my two shopping bags and waiting for me. He is an absolute star ⭐️ and I'm so happy he kept my shopping bags safe and intact. I had lots of high value items in there. Thank you Alfred Nong for being so kind and so honest 🙏there's hope in SA with people like you around. God bless you and I hope you get to read this review. You are an asset to your security company as it's very rare to find such honest and caring individuals such as yourself and I'm...

This might come across as a bit 'judgey' but Benmore has always been viewed as a shopping centre for geriatrics, much like Killarney. This is true. There are many older folks doing their banking, shopping, catching up with lifetime friends and family, and generally enjoying a day out. I'm not ageist at all, but someone else may find it annoying to be walking behind a person with a Zimmer (walking) frame, and maybe it is Mr/Mrs Zimmer, because Morningside is a largely Jewish community. Since the entire centre underwent a successful facelift, it now serves a younger, hipper crowd too. The only thing I would change (hopefully remedied from my last visit) is to offer free parking up to 30-45 minutes again. You've made the centre bigger, surely you can't expect 15 mins to be enough to do...

Between loiterers, informal vendors (including drug dealers), and stationary taxis, it's always somewhat of a disaster zone on 11th Street when entering or exiting this centre.

Aside from it just looking messy or sometimes being a challenge to enter and exit, there have been muggings/smash and grabs exiting the centre which you can't see coming because there are constantly loiterers around.

Update in response to owner's response: I advise you contact the PCA (Parkmore Community Association, of which I am a member) who as I understand it would be happy to work with you and any others operating in the area towards the mutually beneficial goal of keeping the area feeling safe and clean. They would also be able to relay the community's general feeling and...