‘Retail’ in India is being used very loosely: Head, ColorPlus

28 Jan 2009

What happens when real estate developers and retailers meet? Not hard to guess at all! Debate on CAM, revenue sharing, appropriate space within the mall and more. The last session of IFF ‘09 – ‘Grand Finale Fashion Alliance Conclave’ saw the head honchos from both the worlds meeting to share, to discuss, to debate and to agree.

Anuj Puri, chairman and country head, Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj, began the discussion mentioning that the words ‘retail space availability’ triggered off thoughts on – pricing versus quality available. He mentioned the importance of a healthy dialogue as the need of the hour between both the parties for sustainability and profitability.

Reiterating the issue of over access of retail space availability, Dharmesh Jain, CMD, Nirmal Group, observed, “Lets look at how many retailers are there today as against the available retail space.” Jain had a valid point to make when he suggested that it was time to really understand the definition of a mall. He explained, “We need to understand the difference between a neighbourhood mall, a destination mall and a city mall.”

Sticking on to their plans of expansion, the only hitch faced by Globus according to Nadkarni was the delay in completion of the malls. Similar was the case for Westside. But RA Shah, property head, Trent mentioned that where the malls did not open, the company had gone ahead to launch their stores in the properties already available.

Ashesh Amin, head, ColorPlus mentioned, “Over saturation in a particular market of brands / companies offering similar service / products in a way killed the market. Hence it was important for retailers to take a careful note of the upcoming properties in the area before signing on a deal.” He also emphasized that the term ‘retail’ in India is being used very loosely.

The session ended with Hemchandra Javeri, chairman, Fashion Alliance urging all the retailers and mall developers to collaborate. He further urged Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj to take a lead and mediate between the two parties for a win-win situation for both.

— Zainab Morbiwala, Mumbai Bureau