Gweru is reportedly next in line for a major retail development, with plans emerging for a new Midlands Mall to be built along the A5 highway on the outskirts of the city. According to information shared by property information platform Terrace Africa, and highlighted by X user Eng. Bhovungane, the proposed mall will include a drive-thru fast-food outlet, a fuel station and a range of retail stores, positioning it as a multi-purpose commercial node serving both local residents and highway traffic passing through the Midlands provincial capital.
The A5 highway, officially known as the Harare-Bulawayo Highway, is one of Zimbabwe’s busiest and most strategically important roads, stretching approximately 439 kilometres and forming part of the wider R2 route connecting Harare to the Plumtree border post with Botswana. Passing through Chegutu, Kadoma and Kwekwe before reaching Gweru en route to Bulawayo, the highway carries a significant volume of both passenger and freight traffic daily, making frontage along this corridor a valuable commercial asset for retail and service-station developments able to capture passing trade alongside local custom.
Gweru itself has seen a steady trickle of retail investment in recent years, with the city’s existing shopping options including Nicholas King. On Facebook Time Mall along Main Street in the city centre. A new highway-facing mall combining retail, food and fuel offerings would mark a departure from this town-centre format, instead following a model increasingly common along Zimbabwe’s major highways, where combined fuel, food and retail stops are designed to serve long-distance travellers as well as nearby residential and industrial catchments.
Details on the mall’s developer, expected investment value, size and anticipated opening date have not yet been made public, and neither Terrace Africa’s original post nor subsequent commentary has confirmed a construction timeline. The development nonetheless signals continued investor interest in Zimbabwe’s secondary cities, with Gweru, as the country’s fifth-largest urban centre and provincial capital of the Midlands, positioned to benefit from its location roughly midway between Harare and Bulawayo along one of the country’s principal trade and transport corridors.
If realised, a mall of this nature would add to a broader pattern of highway-oriented retail and service development taking shape across Zimbabwe’s road network, as investors look to capture value from the country’s key transport arteries rather than relying solely on traditional central business district locations. Further details on the Midlands Mall project are expected to emerge as planning progresses, with residents of Gweru likely to watch closely for confirmation of timelines, investment partners and the mall’s precise location along the A5 corridor.
