Culture meets commerce at Achimota Retail Centre

For the formal opening of a shopping mall, one would expect to see suit-wearing shop owners and smartly dressed sales assistants all over the place but at the Achimota Retail Centre in Accra the atmosphere was dominated by the elegant traditional wear of opinion leaders and chiefs of the community.

The Achimota Retail Centre is an open mall facility located at Dome in the north-eastern part of Accra, along the Accra-Nsawam Highway.

As part of activities to officially declare it open for business last Wednesday, October 28, the project owners,  Delico Achimota Ghana Limited, invited  traditional leaders from Achimota, Dome, Kwabenya, Tantra Hills, Taifa, Ofankor and surrounding areas for a tour of the facility.

“We do this because we acknowledge chiefs and community elders not just as custodians of the land on which we work, but also as custodians of the culture and values of the people we operate with who include our customers and other patrons.

“The board of Delico Achimota will always extend the due respect and recognition that the elders and people of this area deserve to them,” a company official said to the esteemed guests who included Nii Ayi Bonte, the chief of Achimota and Chief Abubakar Samori, the Sarki of the Muslim community at Tantra Hill, Mile 7 and Chantan.

After a moving libation by Okyeame Tetteh II of Dome in which he asked for God’s blessings for all who would visit the mall, whether for pleasure or for business, the guests were taken on a guided tour  by the Project Manager, Evans Essienyi.

A Delico Achimota official told The Mirror that the mall would be a place for social interactions, entertainment and other amenities lacking in the north-eastern part of Accra.

He said that there would be regular live sessions by Ghanaian bands and artistes at the mall so residents in the catchment area don’t need to travel far for such services.

“We believe there will be a positive social impact on the local economy as a result of the employment of people within the local communities and the resultant impact on their respective families,” the official stated.

With over 60 outfits providing services in lifestyle, beauty and wellness; restaurants and coffee shops as well as in entertainment, children’s games and recreation, those who live in  Achimota, Dome, Tantra Hills, Taifa, Ofankor and the estates of Parakou, Ashongman, Kwabenya and surrounding communities can rightly say they now have access to more entertainment at their doorstep.