Evolution of Shopping Mall Culture in India

• @kw
• 18 Nov 2020

The concept of Malls for retail shopping is not very old in India compared to western countries. The man who brought in the Mall concept first in the world was Victor Gruen—very few people know that he was considered to be father of American shopping mall. Gruen’s first grand shopping complex, the 800,000-square-foot (74,000-square-meter)  South dale Center in Edina, Minnesota, had come up in Nineteen Fifty six and soon after over 1200 malls came up in US. The first shopping Mall in India was launched in 1999 by Ansal’s Plaza in Delhi followed by Crossroads in Mumbai and Spencer Plaza in Chennai. After 2003 Malls starts multiplying in metro cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bangaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune and tier two cities like Gurugram, Noida, Ghaziabad etc. Now the Mall concept has spread too many suburban areas as it has become an acceptable trend and investors and builders consider constructing Modern Mall a very profitable venture. The growth rate was tremendous from 2003 onward and saw peak in 2007 to 2008 till the recession struck in 2008.

The recession of 2008 hit the market very badly, Mall culture witnessed a setback and the retailers and developers who had jumped into the mall business were struggling. Many enthusiasts walked out of business during this period due to shortage of cash flow. However the recession subsided and Malls again gained its hold in the market. The recession also taught developers and retailers a lot. Developers and retailers realized the requirement of adopting more of structured and organized management strategies. This called for professional assistance from experts to rigorously analyzing viability and future prospects of Mall Projects from the start. Many developers took help of overseas architects and management experts having international experience in building and running Modern Malls. 

India saw a major facelift in Advanced Mall Constructions from 2011 onwards. The concept of Mall witnessed a major shift from a place for only retail shopping hub to an integrated commercial space with retail branded shops and many other facilities for entertainment, gamming allies, specialized and professional services ,space dedicated for food joints,  restaurants and bars etc. Now the Advance modern Malls also include Multiplexes. The outlook of people changed over time to expect Modern Malls to provide complete shopping experience. Delhi NCR has experienced extravagant development of Mall besides Delhi. The growth has been phenomenal. By 2017-end, there were more than 600 operational malls across the country. Interestingly, more than 30 new shopping malls covering nearly 14 million sq feet of area are expected to come up across top eight cities by 2020.

The electronic commerce spread in 2014 was considered to be some kind of threat to the expansion of Malls but realtors hedged their business model in such a way that the electronic commerce and online delivery mechanism did not have much impact. Consumers still prefer to visit Malls for their first hand visual experience. The demand for acquiring a shop space in mall kept climbing up is indicated by the rising prices of square foot commercial space in a mall. The trend of leasing out space in mall also is in great demand. Investors are keen to purchase shops in Mall for the purpose of leasing it out on lucrative terms. 

Mall Management has become an essential area to see the SOP (Standard Operating Practice) in place. This includes flow of customers and providing them with all essential facilities, parking, safety & security system. Delhi NCR many malls have come up like DLF Mall, Shipra Mall, Great India Mall, KW Delhi 6 are just few of the most modern Malls that have come up in Noida and Ghaziabad.  The growth of Mall concept has spread all over India with phenomenal results.

                                                                                                     ( source of above data : extracted from Wikipedia )