Shaila aunty is a busy woman these days. Not every day you have your daughter's wedding after all. Aunty ji is busy making recurrent rounds of T – Nagar, a crowded famous shopping street of Chennai. From Expensive Kanchivaram silk saries and jewelry to every small house decoration had its selling address in countless mini shops of T - Nagar. Shaila aunty ji is one harried, confused and anxious mother these days. These are the very problems Themed malls are solution to. A themed mall is already an established concept in west. India recently woke up to this phenomenon when Omaxe started India’s first wedding mall, Gold Souk opened first themed mall dedicate to jewelry in Gurgaon. The biggest advantage Themed malls or specialty malls as they often called, provide is more choice and variety of related goods or services under one roof. It is the place where you know what you want and you are almost sure to get it.
The future of malls in India, as general, looks shaky at the moment. Ernst & Young say 80 percent of India’s prominent 255 malls are failing, and half of them are in dire straits. Main reason is non-sustainable business model of building and maintaining malls. Malls are seen as mere development ventures by builders which are then leased or sold out to investors. Service part of it is highly overlooked. Thus mall fails to provide shopping as an entertaining experience. Another problem that general neighborhood malls face is finding a right tenant mix. With all categories of shops thrown in, it becomes a challenging job to provide a cohesive shoppertainment. Thus Themed malls make a strong case for themselves as an alternative.
Themed malls are hit in mature markets of world. In India it is ripe time for them to start off in cities like Gurgaon, Delhi and Mumbai. Themed mall necessitates tight integration of mall development to mall management with clear positioning of sales proposition. It also helps