Pune has second highest deferment of malls in India

The retail real estate sector in Pune has directly gained momentum from its IT boom. The inflow of migrants, in search of better job and educational opportunities has increased the living standard of people in the city. Buoyed by a benign environment, the retail and hospitality sector in the city has enjoyed a robust growth over the last decade.

Malls in Pune

Retailers are launching a number of malls in the city, with the perception that hike in salary has complemented the spending power of the youth.

The top five malls of the city include Phoenix Market City and Inorbit Mall in Viman Nagar, SGS Kakde Mall in Camp Cantonment, Amanora Town Centre in Hadapsar and Jewel square in Koregaon Park. Brands like Swarovski, Steve Madden or Timberland and Clarks opened their first stores in the city, through these malls. Apart from domestic, international brands have forayed into the city through these malls.

A lot of national and international retail brands are supposed to make an entry through big enterprises, which are proposed to be launched in the current and coming years. However, in a recent report by Cushman and Wakefield, Pune was listed as one among the major cities in the country where proposals for business in malls, seems to have busted. The city was stated to have witnessed the second highest rate of deferment of proposed business in malls.

Reasons behind the scenario

Though more than 20 malls were proposed to be opened in the city in 2005, PMC states that only half of them have actually seen the light till date.

Global uncertainty is largely blamed by retailers, for slowdown in the real estate sector. Many proposed areas that were meant for development of big enterprises have been deferred, which include Camp, Aundh and Baner. From the consumers’ point of view, a mall represents a wide array of choices under a single roof. However, for the retailers, it is the high rentals of businesses inside the mall that counts. With inadequacy of parking spaces in areas like Camp and MG Road, commercial rentals have seen a downturn, resulting in the slowdown of market.

Average Occupancy

Many malls across the city seem to display more vacant spaces, than working areas. Surveys and market reports state that the average occupancy of malls in the city is around just 40 per cent. Malls in Swargate have average occupancy of only about 10%, while in Koregaon Park areas, the same is about 34%. Low footfalls are recorded at most of the malls and the rate of hi-end consumers have fallen down. A fair amount of footfalls are recorded in malls that offer discounts and in specific areas inside the malls, like the multiplex and food courts. Among the rest, Hadapsar is the only locality which houses malls with a reported occupancy of 90%.

proposed business in malls