Open & shut case

It’s a situation familiar to most malls in the city. Last month jewellery designer Alpana Gujral decided to close her 1,000 square feet stand-alone store at the plush DLF Emporio mall. “I opened the shop in August 2008,when the mall was launched,but soon found out that the retail format for jewellery doesn’t function well in a mall. Besides the operational costs like stock inventory,personnel and electricity were adding majorly to the rentals,” says Gujral,who is currently retailing from her 2000 square feet studio from Firoz Gandhi Road.

Small time designer Kapil and Monika Arora too would be shutting their 700 square feet second outlet in DLF Place ,Saket by the month end. “One opens an outlet in a mall to increase the customer base and give your special clients benefits. But profit margins have ended up being negligible,” says Arora,who launched the outlet in July last year with a lot of fanfare.

It’s not just the independent designer brands which have failed to create a flutter at these malls. The exit of big-brand UK clothing chain Debenhams from their 81,500 square feet anchor space at DLF Place in Saket in December last year raised troubling questions about the state of affairs. “The customer traffic was good,the location perfect and the sales robust. But what is worrisome is the high rentals which aren’t justified by the mall. Besides,the malls do very little in helping the anchor stores. The problem is not restricted to big or small retailers,” said Swaraj Salwan,marketing head of Planet Retail Holdings Pvt Ltd,who owns the franchise in India.

On their part,mall owners counter the claim by saying that the retailers show a lack of foresight when selecting the space. “Will you pick up a designer’s pret line beginning at Rs 1500 if a boho Guess tunic costs you less?,” asks Rajiv Duggal,CEO,Select Citywalk. He claims that the maximum exits have been of designers and exporters,who brought in the product without understanding the consumption pattern and the distribution of retail. “This mall stands for affordable luxury. So high-end designer products might not work so well when the customer has a choice of brands like Mango,Guess and Esprit. During the slowdown,these small retailers packed up while multi-brand outlets such as Kimaya and Pantaloons continue to do well,” shares Duggal. Despite repeated attempts,Vivek Kaul,Head,Leasing,DLF Retail,was unavailable for comments.

Meanwhile designer Reynu Tandon says that it is the quality of clients that makes the difference in a mall.” “The pedestrian traffic doesn’t add up to the sales. During festivals,the footfalls are as high as 1 lakh but the actual sales are much lower,” says Tandon,who shut her shop at Select Citywalk mall last year.

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