The distinctive pyramid roof of Sandton City Shopping Centre is one of the architectural icons of modern South Africa. It welcomes visitors to a large multi-floor shopping centre that has evolved into one of the biggest retail complexes in Africa. Over the past two decades, Sandton City has expanded with vast areas of office space and contemporary glass towers. It houses the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and forms the Johannesburg's Central Business District. Sandton City Shopping Centre is located on Nelson Mandela Square, where a statue of the country's post-apartheid father stands proudly alongside the pyramid roof.

Sandton City Shopping Centre is a huge complex with shops spread across many floors and wings. Most of South Africa's big brands have flagship stores here, from supermarket chains to clothes designers. The majority of the upper floors, especially those in the Sandton City towers, are taken up by office space. In recent years, many businesses and banks have moved here from Johannesburg City Centre, creating Southern Africa's most important business district.

Distinctive parts of the complex are connected by sky bridges and covered walkways. There are maps dotted throughout Sandton City Shopping Centre, and it's worth making a note of the different entrances and exits. The shopping centre has come to mark the centre of Sandton, even if it's geographically located in the south of the suburb. Modern Sandton Station is the main railway hub in the suburb, and one of its exits stands across from the Sandton City Shopping Centre entrance. This station is on the high-speed Gautrain, with services to O. R. Tambo International Airport and Pretoria. Various shared taxis stop on different sides of Sandton City and Nelson Mandela Square.

Sandton City opened in 1973 but boomed in the post-apartheid era. New shopping malls were added to the complex and major businesses were enticed away from Johannesburg City Centre. In 2013 the original concrete towers were completely refurbished with a modern glass shell.