The Sarit Centre was the first-ever shopping mall in East Africa, which was opened in 1983. The concept for the design was based on the Brent Cross Mall in London, which the developers visited shortly after it opened its doors in the late 1970s.

Sarit Centre is the oldest mall in Nairobi. The first phase of the mall was completed in 1983. By the end of 1984, the mall was fully let and thriving in business. It started with a dream of two brothers of the Rughani family to build a city within a city in 1976, the vision was born to build the Sarit Centre.