KOLKATA: Leading city malls have witnessed the best-ever weekend — that concluded with Independence Day — post the pandemic, both in terms of footfall and sales. The conversion rate of footfalls to sales was high as serious buyers thronged the malls. In case of some malls, sales over the last weekend were even comparable to the pre-pandemic level. The end-of-season sales have also helped the malls in pushing up the business.
South City Mall vice-president Manmohan Bagree, the largest mall in the city, pointed out that it had the best footfall on August 15 since the reopening of malls on June 15. There has been a 40%-50% jump in sales. “The sales were almost 70% of the pre-Covid level. Considering that we could operate with up to 50% of the peak crowd capacity, it was very good. The conversion of footfall to sales was quite high,” he said.
"The easing of restrictions should help malls and the retail sector. But everyone should keep following all the Covid norms to keep the virus’s spread in check.-TimesView"
According to Bagree, more than 10,000 cars were parked at South City during the weekend. On Sunday alone, the number was 4,200. Total footfall this weekend was more than 1.5 lakh at South City. “We are hoping for even a better weekend this week with extended hours of operations and opening of multiplexes,” he added.
Acropolis Mall GM K Vijayan pointed out that the footfall and sales soared largely due to the end-of-season sales and Independence Day offers. The footfall was at its peak in Acropolis Mall on the 75th Independence Day as it touched the 25,000 mark . “This Sunday was the best since the restrictions were lifted and people went out to celebrate Independence Day with their families. Food court and gaming zone saw maximum guests. Children thronged the Timezone that has reopened. The reopening of multiplex also contributed to the uptick in the sales,” he said.
According to Vijayan, foodies came in large numbers to their favourite fine-dining restaurants and bars. The apparel category clocked impressive sales as the brands doled out end-of-season sales and it was the last day of the offer.
Quest vice-president Sanjiv Mehra is hoping the footfall to rise to 6 lakh in August to 4 lakh in July. “The footfall is rising every weekend,” he added. Ambuja Neotia Group director Ramesh Pandey said that the footfall in City Centre 1 & City Centre 2 was exceptionally good last weekend. The garments, cosmetics and lifestyle segments did extremely good business. Also, the fine-dinning business was so far the best post-2019. The sales during the last weekend was Rs 4 crore in City Centre 1 and Rs 3.4 crores in City Centre 2. While the footfall in City Centre 1 was 78,000, it was 607000 in City Centre 2. The recovery rate compare to 2019 was 85%.
