This story is from August 17, 2020

Freedom from fear on I-Day; malls again a hangout zone

Freedom from fear on I-Day; malls again a hangout zone
Kolkata: Nearly all malls in the city clocked record footfalls over Friday, Saturday and Sunday. But, customer spend at malls that had shot up significantly when malls reopened two months ago, dipped during the Independence Day weekend, a phenomenon that reflected a definite shift in customer behaviour to pre-pandemic normal.
Sales dipped by 10% over the previous week, not because people were shy to spend but because the malls attracted not just shoppers but the hangout crowd as well.
With entry regulated at malls to adhere to social-distancing norms, queues were visible outside several malls. And though stores still had customers, there were also many who had come to simply spend a good time and hang around in malls.
“When the malls reopened amidst the pandemic, per capita spend was high while average time spent in the mall was low as only serious shoppers came, made their purchase and left. Over time, that has been gradually changing. Not only has footfalls increased but those coming in are also spending more time in the mall. This was particularly noticeable during the Independence Day weekend when sales at the food court were high but average sales at retail stores did not increase appreciably,” said South City mall vice-president Manmohan Bagree.
At Acropolis mall, footfall was a record high at 9 lakh on Independence Day. Yet, retail stores clocked a revenue of Rs 96 lakh, down from Rs 1 crore recorded on August 9. That though hasn’t dampened spirits. Quite the opposite actually with the mall management pointing out that it was very encouraging to see families walk in.
“Measures taken at malls to combat the virus has inspired confidence in customers. When malls reopened in June, there were more men than women walk-ins. Gradually, the young stepped in. On Independence Day, there were a large number of women and children. People have waited and watched and now feel secure to step into malls,” said Acropolis mall general manager K Vijayan.
At the twin City Centre malls in Salt Lake and New Town, both footfall and revenue shot up. While the mall at Salt Lake had a footfall in excess of 17,000 over the weekend and revenue of Rs 2.7 crore, that at New Town had 13,000 and sales of Rs 1.9 crore.
“There is nothing like an occasion to draw people to malls. It is good to see women have started visiting malls. The offers made by retailers are very lucrative too and that's tempting people. Even fine dining outlets that had promotional offers for the Independence Day weekend recorded good sales,” said Ramesh Pandey, wholetime director at Ambuja Neotia that owns and operates the two malls.
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