KOLKATA: After subdued festivities last year owing to Covid, people are shopping with a vengeance. Signs of the pandemic have faded in malls with properties recording footfall and sales that are comparable to 2019 prior to the pandemic. In at least two malls, the management said they were recording sales that matched the corresponding period two years ago while two others said sales were only a shade below 2019 and were confident of catching up by October, if not September.
“The footfall and sales have been phenomenal. Last festive season was marred by the first wave. People don’t want to miss out this year. Since there have been talks of a third wave, customers did not wish to wait long lest it arrive and again dampen the spirits. They’ve hit the malls early and we’ve seen a steady rise in footfall since last month. The sale period also did its bit to attract customers. August has been the best month in over a year-and-a-half and we expect September and October to be even better,” said Ramesh Pandey, wholetime director of Ambuja Neotia Realty that operates the two City Centre malls in Salt Lake and New Town.
In 2020 August, the recovery from the previous year was only around 40-45%. Sales and footfalls had picked up in September and October, leading to a 65-70% recovery till Diwali before the situation again turned bad post March 2021 due to the second wave.
The high sales last month has even led to mall operators withdrawing rental concessions offered to retailers on account of low transactions due to the Covid impact on turnout and turnover.
At South City, the largest mall in the east, the recovery has been over 80% against August 2019. “Barring last Sunday that was slightly dull owing to Rakhi, the turnout at the weekends has been huge. Retailers as well as restaurants are delighted. There is a lot of good cheer and optimism in the sector,” said South City mall vice-president Manmohan Bagree.
He expects the current growth trend to continue and lead to 100% recovery by September-end or beginning of October. “With cinemas also doing well, the food and beverage business is rocking. The pressure to serve customers at the mall is so high that we have stopped deliveries,” said Bagree.
The mall management at Acropolis says sales have soared, leading to nearly 90% recovery against the corresponding month in 2019. “Vaccination and multiple measures by the government to control Covid have worked wonders. With cases low, people have gained confidence to step out. At this pace, we will definitely make a full recovery by September," said mall head K Vijayan.
Two other malls in the city — Mani Square and Quest — have recorded 70%-75% and 60%-65% recovery respectively. “The business has been very good with food & beverage doing particularly well,” said Mani Group director Sudarshana Gangulee.
In Quest, the recovery has been slow owing to its high net worth clientele who are still very cautious about stepping out. “I would peg the recovery at 60%-65%. If the third wave does not happen, we will continue to improve through Durga Puja and Diwali. We are all very happy with the footfall and business,” said Quest mall V-P Sanjeev Mehra.
