KOLKATA
The East India Metropolis, the main economic centre of Eastern India, has seen a tremendous transformation in the Past decade, in terms of Retail space creation. The First Shopping mall, conforming to international standards, came up in the year 2000, at 22 Camac Street in South Central Kolkata. The City has never looked back since then. With an estimated 4.5 lakh population in the Kolkata Metro area and another 11 lakhs in Greater Kolkata, the city has the third largest consumer base in India. Statistics show that 30% population in the Kolkata Metro area has a purchasing power index of 5 (highest) and another 42% has an index of 4. Kolkata is also among the top cities with the highest credit/deposit ratio in the country. Not surprisingly one in every ten of India’s richest consumers resides in West Bengal. This explains the fact that out of 29 present day operational malls in Eastern India, 15 of them are in Kolkata with an available mall space (GLA) of 3 million Sq ft. Kolkata is one of the few cities where what is planned by the mall developers is implemented till now. The City is all set to add as many as 17 new malls worth 4 million sq ft by 2013. Here we pick our top five from the City.
1. SOUTH CITY MALL, PAS Road
Since its inception in the year 2008, it has practically rewritten history for mall goers in the city. At 1.04 Million sq ft built up area and close to 6.5 lakh sq ft leasable space, The South City Mall makes a statement, and has changed the geography and status profile of South Kolkata. Being the largest shopping mall ever conceived in Eastern India (8th largest in India), the mall scores high in catchment area. Sitting pretty in the midst of upper middle class suburbs of Jodhpur Park, Lake Gardens, Dhakuria & Golf Green with Jadavpur, Tollygunge & the Posh Lake Area within 1.5 kms reach, the mall couldn’t have had a better clientele. Not to forget the 1600 residential flats of adjoining 31.14 acre “South City Township”.
The scale itself is impressive. The mall houses 6 anchors – India’s largest Shoppers Stop (83,000 sq ft), Largest Spencer’s hyper (72,000 sq ft), third largest Pantaloons (71,000 sq ft), Fame Gold Class multiplex of 60,000 sq ft with 6 screens and 1426 seats, 20,000 sq ft Starmark and 20,000 sq ft Time Zone. The mall is conceptualized for the elite and nouveau rich and has over 150 outlets of prime international & national brands. The sprawling Food court, ‘Food Talk’, of 75,000 sq ft is managed by Blue Foods of Mumbai, comprising of KFC, Pizza Hut, Subway, Gelato and many more. The mall also hosts several exclusive restaurants & lounge bars.
Designed by retail specialist ICS Bentel Associates and city architect Dulal Mukherjee, the mall introduces the zonal system, the scientific mall management process sectioning together similar categories of shops. The mall witnesses a footfall of around 50,000 on weekday going up to 75,000 on weekends and nearly a lakh during festive seasons. It features a multi-level car parking, with provisions to alight at the desired floor, which is the largest in Eastern India, for 2000 cars.
As said by Abhijit Das of Lemongrass Advisers, “For any outstation visitors to Kolkata, South City Mall is on our list of Must visits, which showcases the economic strength of the city”. The mall, which on its opening year was valued at Rs 650 crores, has appreciated to 720 crores on 2011. With an astounding growth rate of 9% p.a.(2010-11) and projected to go up to 11%, the mall is among the top 3 malls of India in occupancy count with current vacancy at 1%. It may be some time before Kolkata sees another mall of the same stature, possibly with the launch of Forum II.
In its 4th year of operation, the mall has already won the Images (ISCA) Retail award twice, in 2008 & 2011.
Our Ratings: 5/5
2. CITY CENTRE, Salt Lake
The City Centre is the city's first public space to be designed by an architect of international repute. Designed by Charles Correa and promoted by the Bengal Ambuja Group, City Centre is landmark architecture, inaugurated in 2004. Covering a built up area of more than 4 lakh sq ft, it is both an open air & enclosed format, where unbranded stores jostle for space with big branded ones. It covers Apollo Clinic, Inox - a 40,000 sq ft, 4 screen multiplex, a banquet space accommodating 1,000-people, Anchor store of 45,000 sq ft Shoppers Stop, along with space for an art gallery, a Chai shop, a remodeled tram, christened ‘The Kolkata Store’, selling bric-a-brac and a 10,000 sq ft gaming zone ‘Time Zone’. An open space at different levels leads to a Kund area which is the common meeting place for all generations, leading to a 10,000 sq ft food court “Hangout’. It has parking space for 800 cars.
“It was a deliberate attempt to transform the place into a hangout for Calcuttans,” says Harsh Neotia, chairman, Ambuja Realty Group. The mall hosts around 200 tenants spread over its four blocks, covering apparel, electronics, personal care, grocery, confectionery and stationery. There’s also a gymnasium, apart from 12 restaurants. Footfalls on weekdays vary from 15,000-20,000 to as much as 40,000 on Saturdays and up to 60,000 during festive seasons and on Sundays. The vacancy rate of the mall currently stands at 4% only.
“In the last three years, our City Centre Salt Lake outlet has emerged in the top five of our 126 Indian outlets – in terms of footfalls, revenue and profits.” Says Virag Joshi, President and CEO, KFC and Pizza Hut. “If I have to think of the best open plan mall in India – a challenging concept to implement – the first name that would come to my mind would be City Centre Salt Lake in Kolkata, followed by Nirmal Lifestyle in Mumbai.” Says Sonaal Chopra, CEO, Time zone Entertainment. City Centre has received the 'CNBC Awaaz Travel Award 2007' for the Most Preferred Shopping Mall in India. Also received the award for 'Most Admired Shopping Centre – Social Responsibility' at Images Shopping Centre Award (ISCA) for 2009.
Our Ratings: 4.5/5
3. FORUM MALL, Elgin Road
Opened in 2003, the Mall changed an erstwhile quiet residential neighborhood to a buzzing hi-street destination of today. Initially it was conceived & built as an office complex and even after 80% construction, converted to a mall. Says Rahul Saraf of Forum Projects, “the mall was a bit of a vengeance project. One of the prime topics of discussion between me and my friends used to be is Kolkata a dying city or dead city? Apparently because we had no malls,” said Saraf. “So we came up with the city’s first shopping mall”.
A 55,000 sq ft Shoppers Stop as anchor, a 30,000 sq ft, 4 screen, 1000 seater Inox multiplex, about 70 odd retailers, a 300 cover food court ‘Burp’ and a 5,000 sq ft gaming zone ‘Timbuktoo’ are spread out in 1.25 lakh sq ft of retail space of the 2 lakh sq ft built up area of the mall. It is a serious shopper destination spread over six floors which experiences footfalls of about 10 – 15,000 on weekdays to 30,000 during weekends.
The mall went for a makeover in 2010, and reemerged with an extension, an addition of 1 lakh sq ft, with retail space of 42,000 sq ft named ‘Forum Courtyard’. The Courtyard elevated the experience of Forum, altogether, with an assortment of renowned International brands housed within 30+ quality retail spaces, aimed particularly at a rich & fashion designate clientele. It also ended the Parking woos of Forum by adding 5 levels of Parking slots to a total of 450+ cars. The sleek & cozy Forum twins enjoy more than 90% occupancy rate.
Our Ratings: 4/5
4. MANI SQUARE, E M Bypass
A 7.1 lakh sq ft mall comprising of an office tower as well, and a parking space for 1200+ cars, was thrown open on June 2008 with much fanfare only to be greeted by the economic downturn. Adding to the problem was the catchment area - the mall came up in an offbeat area not comprising of big residential zone which affected its footfalls. But targeted marketing strategies and effective promotions saved the order of the day, resulting in a turnaround. But it could not stop the departure of the city’s first big ticket IMAX project from the mall in 2010. However with time Mani Square became an overly popular destination of today with the nearby housing projects, planned by the same group, starting to take shape as also drawing footfalls from nearby Salt Lake, Kankurgachi & VIP Road areas.
Created by Design International, Toronto, this nine-floor venture with 4.1 lakh sq ft GLA, provides five floors of pure shopping pleasure alongside fine dining restaurants, spa, nightclub, business centre, banquet hall and exhibition area, topped by three floors of office rentals. The mall anchors include a 30,000 sq ft Westside, 60,000 sq ft Spencer’s hyper, a 7,000 sq ft Macdonald’s and 4 screen Cinemax multiplex. It also houses entertainment zones ‘Amoeba’ and ‘Scary House’ along with 140+ retail outlets of top brands, a 650 cover ‘Food Court’, several specialty restaurants and fine dining options.
Mani Square has evolved as a happening destination in its operational phase of 3 yrs with the popular annual bash of ‘Baisakhi Dhamaka’, a great event for shopping. The mall counts among India’s biggest 25 malls with an occupancy rate of 90%. A miniature IT Park is what fills up the sixth to ninth floor of Mani Square. Comprising of more than 125,000 square feet of modular work space the IT Park would offer work ready offices tailored to different size requirements, with all amenities associated with intelligent building space.
Our Ratings: 3.5/5
5. 22 CAMAC STREET
A signature Hafeez Contractor project, with an aspiring European design, this 3.8 lakh sq ft complex is Kolkata’s first step towards organized retailing, which came up in 2000 at Camac Street, Kolkata’s hi-street. A personal favourite of many till today, 22 Camac St has 4 blocks of 2 lakh sq ft GLA and a common open air atrium with underground parking. Two big anchors, Westside (55,000 sq ft) and Pantaloons (50,000 sq ft) adorn one flank while Pizza hut, Amoda-The Spa Bar & Z lounge dot the other. The basement is a huge car parking facility of 400 cars.
The mall comprises of several exclusive restaurants and lounges on the upper floors and several office spaces. The only attribute which seems to be missing is a multiplex, but keeping in mind that the mall was devised as a commercial mixed use property and not an entertainment & lifestyle zone, we can ignore the absence though a multiplex would have ensured higher footfalls. Average daily footfalls are around 10,000 which doubles during festive seasons.
The Pizza Hut outlet is one of the highest grossing outlets of the chain in India. So is the Pantaloons outlet spread over 3 levels. The Food Bazaar and CCD lounge are the two other high grossing points in the mall. The annual ‘Auto Carnival’ held at the mall atrium is a popular event amongst auto enthusiasts and makers. The mall is particularly liked by a section of the mass as it scores high in ambience being devoid of the regular mall crowd and hustle. The vacancy rate is only around 5%.
Our Ratings: 3.5/5
Several other malls that have opened doors in the last one year (City Centre New Town, Axis Mall) did not fall in the ambit as the vacancy rate is still high. Also one year is too small a period to measure a mall’s popularity & success in the long run. Hopefully in the forthcoming editions these malls will find a place in our list.