Movie and Game buffs who reside on the Lagos Island and its environs may just be in for more exciting times as Genesis Cinemas, a leading Nigerian cinema brand, and Play Zone, a fast growing family entertainment brand, are set to open shops at the renovated City Mall, Onikan.

This was announced last week by Mr.Emmanuel Efuntayo, Principal Consultant, Ibukun Efuntayo & Company, the managers of The City Mall, during the contract signing ceremony with the two new tenants.

The managements of Genesis Cinemas and Play Zone, expressed their joy and excitement at the prospect of coming into The City Mall which is currently undergoing extensiverenovations.

According to Opeyemi Ajayi, General Manager, Genesis Group, Genesis Cinemas is coming to the City Mall based ontheir conviction that the Mall is about to become a vibrant location once again, given the huge efforts by the current managers at repositioning it.

He said: “We believe in the plans and efforts of the City Mall management to turn the place to a vibrant location for the people on the Island. We bought into that plan because usuallymalls need cinemas and we think it’s a good business opportunity to partner with the new City Mall”

Opeyemi also assured movie goers that at the City Mall they would get the same quality of service and interesting movie experiences as they do in other Genesis Cinemas.

He added: “Our current and potential patrons should expect the same interesting movie experience that Genesis offers; as movies are released around the world they would be released here, just the way it is in other Genesis Cinemas”.

Also expressing their excitement at taking tenancy at the Mall, Dr. Akinyemi, Chief Operating Officer, Play Zone, explained that malls around the world are fast becoming entertainment centres and that the new City Mall has the potentials and facilities to serve their customers well.

She said: “We are exited about joining Genesis Cinemas here at the new City Mall because the trend with malls now is that they are fast becoming entertainment centres. With the cinema you also would need a game centre, and from what we can see with the on-going renovations the City Mall will soon become vibrant once again”.

On what games lovers should expect from Play Zone at The City Mall, Akinyemi said, “We are going to tailor our shop a little differently. We are going to have a restuarant in the game centre, a mini bowling alley, a lot more games and a toy shop. So we are hoping to provide a lot more services than we currently do in our flagship store”.

Both Opeyemi and Akinyemi expressed hopes that the management of the Mall will deliver on their responsibilities of ensuring that the Mall is a place people would love to visit.

Efuntayo, while expressing his happiness, thanked the new tenants for identifying with the efforts of the management of The City Mall to give it a face-lift and also reiterated the committment and readiness of his firm to deliver on their own side of the bargain.

He said: “We are indeed happy that these two high profile tenants are coming on board the City Mall, which we believe will add more to the footfalls at the Mall. People don’t just go to the malls for sight-seeing or services per se, but also for the tenant mix and their offerings. We intend to play our part by keeping up the service level in terms of making the Mall a safe and secured place for visitors, with professional parking management in and around the mall”.

Efuntayo also called on other businesses to take advantage of the upgraded facilities at the new City Mall to come on board as tenants, and by so doing be able to reach out to their customers on the Lagos Island and environs.

It would be recalled that the management of The City Mall recently announced the installation of brand-new escalators as part of the on-going renovation process.