Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / Regional shopping centres play an important role in the South African economy, especially by providing location services to retailers (large and small) and non-retailers. One of the main value propositions of regional shopping centres is to attract a large number of customer footprint to a central location where a group of retailers can market and sell to a larger customer market. Independent retail jewellers have numerous channel options available, in South Africa the preferred channel for independent jewellery retailers is a physical retail outlet within regional shopping centres. The purpose of this research is to determine the value proposition quality of Cape Town Metropolitan regional shopping centres as a preferred location to independent retail jewellers. The location value proposition analysis was performed by evaluating a set of location criteria as prescribed by available literature. Furthermore, this research also explores the antecedents of relationships and trust between shopping centre management and independent retail jewellers. This research followed a mixed-method approach and the focus is a sample of regional shopping centres and independent retail jewellers within the Cape Town Metropolitan area. Information was gathered through interviews by using structured questionnaires, which was prepared from literature on location value assessment criteria for shopping centres, relationship management and building trust within relationships. The research shows that although regional shopping centres are the preferred channel for independent retail jewellers there are some location value proposition elements that require improvement. A key concern for shopping centre management should be the imbalance in power created by contractual agreements that mostly favour regional shopping centres. This imbalance in power negatively influences relationships and trust between shopping centre management and independent retail jewellers. Furthermore, the feedback from independent retailer jewellers is that rental costs charged for location services are miss-aligned to the value received from these services. This study is limited that it only surveyed regional shopping centre management and independent retailer jewellers within the Cape Town Metropolitan area in South Africa. The limited scope and focus of this study confines the generalisability of this study for other types of retailers and / or other metropolitan areas within South Africa. The value of this study is that it tested location criteria from international literature within the South African context and set the foundation for future research, which is currently limited in South Africa.