The cityscape of Mumbai is all set to change with over 25 shopping malls, measuring 80,000 square feet to 5,00,000 square feet, being constructed across the city, including western and central suburbs, according to Cushman & Wakefield -- a global property consultancy firm.
"A shift is seen in retailer focus from the traditional hi-street such as Linking Road, Kemps Corner and Colaba to organised, geographically spread, centrally air-conditioned shopping malls," Cushman & Wakefield said in its recent global main street survey.
"This has acted as a check on spiralling of real estate values despite increasing demand," the reported added. Interestingly, several of these under construction malls are approaching completion.
Most of the malls are coming up in distant suburbs of Andheri, Malad, Mulund, Thane among others. The malls have impacted rentals in some of the shopping areas in the city.
The survey adds retail industry is projected to benefit from the current economic uptrend. However, the growth is expected to remain hetrogeneous in its geographical spread.
Moreover, not all retailers are likely to benefit equally. "Only the ones in favourable locations and having the right format and suitable strategies are likely to remain long-term players.
B Nagesh, customer care associate and CMD at Shoppers' Stop, adds, "In three years, the supply from property developers will almost double or triple as property yield have improved in Mumbai."
Shoppers' Stop is one of the largest retailer in the country. He also added, "Organised retailing in the country is estimated to be around Rs 90,000 crore (Rs 900 billion) business with Mumbai accounting for 10-12 per cent of consumption."
According to the survey, Linking Road -- the hi-street shopping destination in Mumbai -- has witnessed a fall in rentals, moving to 41 position from 38 position, worldwide.
New York's Plaza District is the most expensive shopping destination followed by Paris' Avenue des Champs Elysees and Hong Kong's Causeway Bay in world ranking of rental rents.
