Kolonnade ice rink to close

 

04 September 2012 - 12:01
By Suné du Toit

Kolonnade management wants to replace ice rink with shops

The ice rink at the Kolonnade Shopping Centre, north of Pretoria, will close in January 2013.

Marketing consultant for the centre, Debbie Horak, confirmed the decision. "It is a joint business decision that has been taken by the co-owners of Kolonnade Shopping Centre and the owner of the Kolonnade ice rink, Dave Rogers."

Horak said this decision is to allow for Pretoria to have a new modernised facility and for Kolonnade to use the opportunity to expand their offering.

The fact that the ice rink has become too expensive to run and the operational costs make it unviable, contributed to this decision said Horak.

Paula Husselman, whose son uses the rink for ice hockey practice, is shocked by the decision. "What's going to happen to all those kids depending on the ice for their sport? It's not fair! The kids don't just go there for socializing. It's their sport."

Husselman said most of the people thought it was a joke.

"We had a meeting with our hockey club and everyone is very negative. We don't want it to close. There are kids preparing for international teams that qualified to go overseas end of January next year. We don't want these kids negative at the moment."

Horak has confirmed, however, that a new North American sized ice rink will be opened at The Grove Shopping Centre in the east of Pretoria next summer.

"This rink is going to be much more modern and smaller than the olympic sized rink currently at Kolonade. It is going to be far more eco-friendly to maintain, which is very, very important when you get to the age and size of the Kolonade ice rink."

The ice rink at The Grove Shopping Centre will open 23 September 2013.