Malls are a relatively new phenomenon in Kashmir, and stakeholders are experimenting with new ways to make the concept a mainstay. But, as Saima Bhat reports, it could take a long time before these centres are the preferred choice for customers.
A shopping mall, shopping centre or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops for shopping that is all under one roof, but in the Kashmir the meaning changes to only ‘selected garments under one roof.’
The concept of shopping malls in Kashmir developed with the inauguration of Srinagar’s MS Shopping Mall in 2005. Since then, private and government organizations have been working to establish more malls in Srinagar and its outskirts.
The first year of business for the privately owned Al Hyder Shopping Mall in the Parraypora area saw every branded store doing the business of more than one or one and a half crores, which, according to store owners, is a good start. But after three years, every branded store had turned into a multi-brand store. Mushtaq Ahmad, a salesman, says his transition from working at Priknit and then New Wani Arts made him realize how unpredictable business can be.
“Initially, companies would request all stores at a mall to keep a stock of goods, but since the 2010 hartals and curfews, these companies only send us limited older stock, due to which we have lost valuable customers,” he says. “To regain our customers, we kept our own new stock in stores and changed our stores into multi-brand ones. But people come and ask for company discounts, which is not possible now, and so many ends up not buying anything,” he adds. This store still has summer stock on display as they weren’t in good financial standing to get a fresh winter stock. But it’s not just the older stock element that plays a role in failing to maintain customers. The high rates with minimal room for discounts also contribute.
Al Hyder went into business after a formal inauguration in 2008 but just a few kilometres away is the government-owned IQ Mall, which is still waiting for its inauguration after the third year of its completion. It has around 56 shops among which 10-15 are open, some halls have been occupied by private clinics, some by restaurants and the others still await bidding. Mohd Umar, a salesman in one of the stores of this mall says, “People don’t come to this mall because from the outside, it looks like a hospital and no one can even predict it can be a mall. Earlier, we didn’t even have a hoarding for this mall, and then we contributed some money and get one. Sometimes people come to visit their doctors here, I must say if luckily our shop catches their eyes, they come for shopping—otherwise, there has been no initiative from the government for uplifting the mall.”
IQ shopping mall offered stores on lease for around 11 lakhs without any formal inauguration and the shops which were booked are running from the last three years. Every owner is concerned about the low footfall, and some of them say they are even planning to close their shops. Zahoor Ahmad, owner of the Catmoss store and president of the IQ shops association says, “For these three years I couldn’t give any satisfactory sales to my company, as a result, they send me a cycle of older stock. I know Kashmiris are brand conscious, but at the same time they prefer to buy from outside as in the outside valley, rates are the same throughout the world but the difference is they get more variety outside.” Zahoor has personally asked his company to send more variety but he says he is not able to understand where the problem lies. People associated with this trade have crossed their fingers hoping that FDI retail trade would hike up their business and mall business will touch the skies.
There are some larger malls coming up in the centre as well in outskirts. One such privately owned one is RCC Plaza built on 10,000 square feet area in the outskirt of the city. It is complete, but shops will be on auction from next year.
Another shopping mall, Sangarmaal; government owned, built on a 10,000 square feet area in the centre of the city, with a parking space, is yet to open all its stores and attract more footfall after being open for more than a year now. Sangarmaal has seemingly followed the earlier trend of Kashmiri malls. Stores that are in business at this mall are garment stores, one crockery store and a branded ice cream shop, Baskin Robbins. Presently, every mall in Kashmir is about five stories high, having 50 to 70 stores. But outside Kashmir, a mall has hundreds of stores—for example, The Metro Centre is the largest shopping centre in Europe with over 330 shops, 50 restaurants and an 11 screen cinema. Westfield London is the largest inner-city shopping centre in Europe. Bullring, Birmingham is the busiest shopping centre in the UK welcoming over 36.5 million shoppers in its opening year.
There are some stores, however, in Kashmiri malls which have had good business, such as Space Age, Bajaj Electrical Limited (franchise based) which could do a business of Rs. 15 crores in a year. Nissar Ahmad Khan, MD Space Age believes, “Success depends on people and what the condition remains in Kashmir. People come to stores and they ask for all branded goods, and ours is exclusive with all branded material like Bajaj, Wipro, Whiteline, Philips and some international brands.” Besides dealing with electronic goods, Space Age is dealing with street lightings and electrical poles too.
Franchise stores refer to those in which the owner has bought goods on his own, whereas an outlet store is where the manufacturers sell their products directly to the public through stores. So the outlet shops get varieties in their stores as per the sales of the previous year and as per the space of the shop. But still, branded shops have failed to attract more customers. Bombay Dyeing has exclusive franchise shops in Kashmir, but they believe they have just three to five per cent of regular customers and shares sales pick up if the company advertises discounts.
Van Heusen has an exclusive shop in Kashmir, and it is the only exclusive store of the brand in the entire valley which deals with formalwear. Its customers are only bureaucrats, bank employees and the like, as the starting price is Rs 1299 and it is visited by just 15 to20 per cent of the total population of Kashmir. Store manager Khurshid Ahmad Khan shares, “sales of Rs two lakhs is a dream for one month, we could only make 30 to 40 lakhs per year while as the same brand sells two lakh pieces in a month.”
People associated with the trade believe it is not only good branded stores that attract people, but parking spaces also contribute. Malls that have a parking space do relatively better.
Manzoor Ahmad, manager of Cantabil in Town Square Shopping mall, inaugurated in 2008, believes, “In Kashmir we have a serious problem with following others, so if we see one is doing good in garments we tend to follow him to get equal profit but we don’t even think for a while that we are doing harm to his business and to ours as well.” Cantabil was also affected by the three years of unrest, but Manzoor believes this year too, the business will not make a mark due to the 2010 year’s effect and is hoping next year if they can do better. Manzoor dreams of having malls like those outside Kashmir where all stores in one mall deal with different kinds of businesses like individual stores each for ladies garments, gents, kids, crockery, and so on, as that can be of help to customers and to all shops in the mall.
“This is a tourist place so visitors come to Kashmir to gets Kashmiri products, but they find rarely any Kashmiri products in malls. I feel there is a need of having exclusive shops of Kashmiri products in every mall,” says Manzoor. “Kashmir is the only place where people don’t go to waste their time in malls; people don’t come for window shopping here and this is the best place to invest in. I feel every businessman from outside the state can get more than they expected in our markets,” says Liyaqat Qureshi, owner of Samlee in Town Square Mall. “What irks them, though, is when shops remain closed for months together,” he adds.
