The one-stop hub that never slumbers

Aug 24, 2006

It is one of the city’s unheralded shopping hubs. Hidden in a coat of dust, the suburb has more than what meets the eye. You only need to set your foot in this small town huddled between Makerere University and Mulago to know the magnitude of business that takes place there.

By Alex Balimwikungu

It is one of the city’s unheralded shopping hubs. Hidden in a coat of dust, the suburb has more than what meets the eye. You only need to set your foot in this small town huddled between Makerere University and Mulago to know the magnitude of business that takes place there.

The 24-hour commercial hub that owes its status to the diligence of the late Hajji Musa Kasule, bustles with activity. It has emerged as a one-stop spot for almost all shopping needs.

From pubs, schools, pharmacies, shops, supermarkets, boutiques, saloons and hotels, to roadside vendors, it has all the ingredients befitting a business district. As such, Wandegeya is one of the few places, after Kikuubo, where you are bound to find human traffic jam. University professors, politicians, students, low income earners and the unemployed, all attest to the ‘student prices’ that attract them just like bees are to nectar.

Haruna Gavamukulya Kasule, 68, of Wandegeya market says business is brisk. It is one of the few places in town where you can shop for a safety pin, a tablet of rock salt or even a generator within a radius of 100 metres. “If you have failed to find what you are looking for anywhere, Wandegeya is the place to visit. If you don’t get what you need in the mushrooming shops, the vendors somehow have it,” he says.

Even with the high taxes on beers in the recent national budget, Wandegeya is among the few places in Kampala where a beer still goes for sh1,500 even in some trendy and decent bars. Watering holes like Owenz Bar, Campus Close, Deep Blue Corner and Star’s Bar (College Inn) are testimony to this. The sizzling pork is another story.

How about those who love eating around the clock? It is for the nocturnal habits of most university students that Wandegeya has developed into a fast-foods oasis; one can get for food at any given time of the day or night. The 24-hour fast-food outlets such as Tipsy Take-away, Romalo Café, Burger Corner, I feel like Chicken or Tummy Tamers have conspired to bring prices low, with some outlets now selling ‘half chips’ at sh500.

However life in Wandegeya isn’t about drinking, Rolex chapatti or grilled ‘somersaulting’ chicken.

It place would pass for a big arcade. Today, it has become the official home for boutiques specialising in quality second-hand designer items. Watching campus girls strut along the streets, you think they went shopping at Tiffany’s in the UK. Don’t be fooled. They shopped from Sula’s Boutique next door!

Their male counterparts need not meddle with ‘Man About Town’ on Eagen House. They shop with the ‘Men Around Town’, a.k.a mobile designers, who peddle everything from suits, shoes, and socks at relatively cheap prices. Interestingly, they huddle around Wandegeya’s main street opposite College Inn. Suits go for sh50,000 and good shoes, sh15, 000.

The tin-roofed structures that littered the Wandegeya of yesterday have since given way to modern structures. The town boasts of three hotels; Samalien Hotel, College Inn and Hotel Catherine, which provide the much needed ‘resting’.

College Inn was recently upgraded to three floors and has over 50 rooms, all self-contained and with state-of-the-art facilities.

Joseph Kayizzi, the manager says, “Accessibility, at the roadside has endeared us to the business community. We host many business travellers from Kenya, Tanzania, and Sudan and because of our good service, they bring in more of their colleagues,”

Edward Mpelesi of Samalien Hotel, with 60 self-contained rooms all hooked on DStv, says that their ‘student prices’ have endeared them to many. “ For sh20,000 you can access a self-contained room with DStv,” he says.

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