Mera Mall,Mera Desh !

Go ahead, take a wild guess, which is India’s Oldest Mall, not Delhi, Mumbai or even Bengaluru, but its Chennai which has the distinction of having the First ever organized retail in the form of SPENCER PLAZA (Biggest in South Asia when opened 3 decades back) which continues to be a popular landmark.

Spencer Plaza was built in 1863–1864, established by Charles Durant and J. W. Spencer in Anna Salai, then known as Mount Road, in the Madras Presidency . The property originally belonged to Spencer & Co Ltd. Spencer & Co opened the first department store in the Indian Suubcontinet  in 1895. It had over 80 individual departments. After a few years, Eugene Oakshott, owner of Spencer’s, shifted the department store to a new building, which was an example of Indo- Saracenic –style of architecture . The building was designed by W. N. Pogson. In 1983, the original building was destroyed in a fire.

The present Spencer Plaza (with a total area of 5,30,000 sq. ft & about 4,00,00 sq. ft of office space) was constructed on the same site, measuring about 10 acres, and was opened in 1991.

Although it had its days of great success and monopoly, Spencer Plaza, like all things that were ahead of their time, has failed to catch up to its newer competitors today. And going by modern standards, Spencer Plaza might not even be much of a mall anymore considering that it doesn’t have a multiplex and neither does it have the biggest brands in terms of fashion or electronics—two primary identifiers for any high street mall.

The concept of Malls for retail shopping is not very old in India compared to western countries. The man who brought in the Mall concept first in the world was Victor Gruen(1903-1980)—very few people know that he was considered to be father of American shopping mall. Gruen’s first grand shopping complex, the 8,00,000 sq. ft South dale Center in Edina, Minnesota, had come up in 1956 and soon after over 1200 malls came up in USA.

After 2003 Malls starts multiplying in metro cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune and tier two cities like Gurugram, Noida, Ghaziabad etc. Now the Mall concept has spread too many suburban areas as it has become an acceptable trend and investors and builders consider constructing Modern Mall a very profitable venture. The growth rate was tremendous from 2003 onward and saw peak in 2007 to 2008 till the recession struck in 2008.

2011 Onwards its picked again & India saw a major facelift in Advanced Mall Constructions. The concept of Mall witnessed a major shift from a place for only retail shopping hub to an integrated commercial space with retail branded shops and many other facilities for entertainment, gamming allies, specialized and professional services, space dedicated for food joints, restaurants, and bars etc. Now the advance modern Malls also include Multiplexes. The outlook of people changed over time to expect Modern Malls to provide complete shopping experience.

The growth has been phenomenal. By 2020-end, there were more than 630+ operational malls across the country.

For Namma Bengaluru the 1^st mall is the 2004 opened Forum Mall, Koramangala which continues to be a good hangout area especially for college students & youngsters & today Karnataka boasts of about 25+ operational malls in various cities of our state.

The biggest mall in India will be  the Lulu Mall Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala (25,00,000 sq. ft area) with an estimated project cost of Rs.2000 crores which is getting geared up for  2022 opening.

The Abu Dhabi, UAE based Lulu Group headed by Yusuff Ali Musaliam Veettil Abdul Kader (1955 born) is a story of Indian entrepreneurs striking it big in the Gulf.It has an annual turnover of USD 7.5 Billion. The Group has a vast organizational structure of over 40,000 employees, representing 37 different nationalities, out of which more than 25,000 are Indians.

This week the Group made its foray into Karnataka with the LuLu Global Mall, Bengaluru located on 14 acres of mixed-use property behind the city railway station at Rajaji Nagar. With 7,90,000 sq. ft  built up space &  ground plus four storeys, it has more than  140 national and international brands. The food court of the mall is a 1000-seater, with over 17 outlets, as well as several multi-cuisine restaurants and cafes. The Mall will house a 70,000 sq. ft. 11 screen multiplex and a 70,000 sq. ft. Family Entertainment Centre, which is the biggest Entertainment Centre in Bangalore. The Mall also houses the LuLu Hypermarket spread across 1,50,000 sq. ft for all your grocery needs.

I enjoyed my visit to the Mall & had a great time in the

Funtura, which is spread across 60,000 sq.ft, with attractions like a roller glider, tag arena, an adventure course and trampoline, VR rides, 9D theatre and bumper cars, is poised to become the largest indoor entertainment zone in India.