Lifestyle Centre is unwrapping holiday magic for North Coast locals and holidaymakers in the upcoming December and January summer holidays. “Stores will be open longer, live music will take place daily around the centre and a complimentary gift wrapping service will add to the festive vibes,” announced Managing Director, Cameron Rencken.
The al-fresco shopping centre is also unwrapping a new interactive map for visitors to effortlessly find their way around. “It’s a really quick and easy way to find a store or restaurant and get information or directions to it from any waypoint in the centre,” said Rencken. “Simply scan any of the QR codes onsite or click on the map from the homepage of our website: www.ballitolifestylecentre.co.za.”
Customers will certainly be making their way to an exciting new store that launches just in time for the festive season – Le Creuset is set to open their largest concept store in the country on Monday, 1 December 2025. Rencken is excited about Lifestyle Centre’s newest tenant, situated between Wedgewood and Lupa. “Le Creuset is an offering that we have had on our ‘wishlist’ for a long time,” he said. “We are delighted to welcome them to the Lifestyle family and look forward to the experiential shopping that this concept store will add to the centre.”
Shoppers can also look forward to the centre’s minimum trading hours being extended during the peak festive season to 8am – 7pm, between 11 December 2025 and 3 January 2026, including all public holidays, with only a few tenants opting not to trade on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. Anchor tenant Lifestyle SUPERSPAR will be open daily from 7am – 8pm, including all public holidays, aside from Christmas Day, when they will close at 6pm. For the convenience of their customers during this busy time of the year, they will be open 6am – 8pm on 15, 23, 24, 30 and 31 December. Woolworths Foodmarket, open 7am – 8pm daily, will extend their closing hours to 9pm from 15 – 19 December and trade 6am – 9pm from 20 – 23 December, 5am – 9pm on 24 December, 7am – 6pm on 25 December, 6am – 8pm on 31 December and 7am – 7pm on 1 January. Trading hours for Lifestyle TOPS throughout the festive season (including public holidays) will be 8am – 8pm Monday – Friday, 8am – 5pm on Saturdays, and 10am – 3.30pm on Sundays. Christmas day trading times will be 8am – 6pm.
The Market will also operate extended hours from 11 December 2025 to 3 January 2026. During this time, the retail stores will be open from 8am to 7pm daily, with the various eateries in the Market remaining open till 10pm every day between 5 December 2025 and 10 January 2026. The Market will be closed on Christmas Day and all traders and eateries will close at 7pm on 31 December.
Eat Street restaurants will be open 11am – 11pm daily, including public holidays, although some will be closed on Christmas Day. To visit their respective websites for bookings, see www.ballitolifestylecentre.co.za/eatstreet/.
An abundance of live music will create a festive atmosphere throughout the centre every day from 11 December 2025 to 3 January 2026. “Live music has become a hallmark of the Lifestyle Centre experience,” enthused Rencken. “In addition to daily morning piano sessions at The Market, shoppers and diners can expect to find an array of talented, local musicians adding to the holiday vibe at The Market and Eat Street during lunch and dinner every day, including The Kickstands, Quiet Storm, Qadasi & Maqhinga, The Black Lapels, Hale Mary, Afritude and other superb acts. Customers at The Studios will be able to turn off and tune in to the sounds of live music on weekend mornings.” Special Christmas Carol performances will also take place around the centre in the lead up to Christmas, including the Tara Blake’s Violin Ensemble at The Market on Sunday, 30 November from 10.30am – 11.30am.
Sundowners on Eat Street will continue throughout the holiday period, with great sundowner specials on food and drinks on offer between 4 and 6pm daily at all Eat Street restaurants, and live DJs adding to the festive ambience on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
The weekly live music and DJ lineup can be found at www.ballitolifestylecentre.co.za/events/ or keep an eye on Facebook (@ballitolifestylecentre) or Instagram (@lifestylecentreballito) for regular updates.
“Another good reason to follow Lifestyle Centre on social media is to enter our Countdown to Christmas competition,” said Rencken. “Our tenants have come on board in a big way with over R125 000 worth of prizes up for grabs until 25 December. It’s easy to enter on Instagram or Facebook for incredible daily giveaways from many of our superb stores in the centre.”
And to top it all off, the centre will be offering a complimentary gift wrapping service between 19-24 December. Three gift wrapping stations will be open from 10am to 6pm to wrap any gifts bought at a Lifestyle Centre store over these days in the run up to Christmas. Rencken advised that this service will be offered free of charge and customers are invited to make a small contribution to Summer Hill House via Zapper and SnapScan if they wish.
“We trust that all our customers, whether loyal locals or from further afield, will enjoy ‘Christmas the Ballito way’ with us over this holiday period, while shopping, dining and experiencing the special North Coast vibes,” said Rencken. “Lifestyle Centre is an integral part of Ballito and we have worked hard at creating beautiful spaces, friendly service and festive cheer for our customers in and around the centre. It is the hope of the Lifestyle Centre family that all of our customers will experience the gift of holiday magic in some way this festive season!”
