Retail Redux as it’s raining malls on the highway

The first such property is dubbed Melange, developed by Majestic Properties. It’s a shopping complex on the Delhi-Dehradun highway (NH-58), 6 km from Meerut. ‘‘Most highway outlets are diners or restaurants or petrol stations with a convenience store. Melange is a shopping complex which provides a unique retail experience not only to the highway traveller, but also to the nearby city dweller,’’ says Anurag Gupta, MD, Majestic Properties.

The complex is using greater availability of space as its USP to provide facilities — an open air food court with seating for 350 people, a dedicated floor for kids, and ample ground-level parking space — that usual city malls would not have. And it’s cheaper too: The average rental at Melange is Rs 40-50 per sq ft per month. The average sale price is in the region of Rs 5,000 per sq ft, as compared to Rs 8,000-Rs13,000 for similar malls in Delhi and Gurgaon.

But will consumers and retailers bite? ‘‘With improved infrastructure and more personal vehicles, a greater number of Indians are travelling on highways. For developers, low land purchase price, development cost and rentals have added to the attraction,’’ says Santhosh Kumar, Director and COO, TrammellCrowMeghraj.

That’s the reason other developers have similar plans. DLF has roped in Jon Jerde, the architect who designed the Mall of America in the US, to blueprint DLF’s Mall of India planned on the Gurgaon highway; while Ansal Properties is coming up with Ansal Highway Plaza.

The five-storied Melange mall has been developed over three acres of land with a total space of 2 lakh sq ft at a cost of Rs 50 crore. A main mall will be open during the day, and a much smaller block of 10,000 sq ft will house 24-hour eating joints and ATMs specifically for highway commuters.

What’s the target audience? The mall aims to cater not only the highway traffic bound for Dehradun, Haridwar and Rishikesh, but also the local population of Meerut. On an average, Gupta expects 20,000 footfalls a day. ‘‘Our internal study revealed that 40% of Meerut residents visit Delhi malls at least once in a year.’’

Internationally, of course, such retail destinations are popular and profitable thanks to convenience of outward traffic movement, good road infrastructure and large parking lots. It remains to be seen if Indians on the highway will take a pit-stop for shopping-and-pleasure.