With 215-plus retail units, 30 escalators, 18 lifts and a built-up area of a whopping 1.3 million square feet, the much-awaited Mantri Mall (now formally named Mantri Square) in Bangalore is getting ready to open next month.
One of the many key features of Mantri Square is its portfolio of 14 anchors and mini-anchors. These include a 70,400 sq.ft Spar hypermarket, a 6-screen Inox (including Inox’s first ever Aura 70-seater VIP auditorium), a 44,000 square feet Lifestyle, a 43,000 square feet Shoppers Stop, a 33,100 square feet Pantaloons, a 23,000 square feet Amoeba FEC (with a 12-lane bowling alley), a 22,000 square feet Home Centre, an 18,000 square feet Reliance Trends, a 15,800 square feet Reliance Living, a 15,600 square feet Marks & Spencer, a 13,000 square feet Reliance Digital, a 12,800 square feet international retailer (name not disclosed), a 11,000 square feet Reliance Timeout, and a 9,800 square feet Showoff store.
The retail trading area of this mall is 60 per cent larger than Spencer Plaza Chennai (currently the largest mall in South India), more than two and a half times that of Forum Mall at Koramangala (currently Bangalore’s largest mall) and about 12 per cent more than Ambience Mall in Gurgaon.
Apart from the 14 anchors and mini-anchors, Mantri Mall also has as many as 10 superstores (outlets with a carpet area of 4,000 to 8,000 square feet), including Prestige – The Man Store, Mom & Me, Crazy Concepts, Oviesse, Office Depot, Reliance Footprint, Kalanjali Sarees, Reliance Jewels, Neeru’s Elite and Reebok Performance Store.
For food lovers, there will be 34 F&B outlets in this mall, including India’s first Taco Bell from Yum Brands Inc. and Bangalore’s first The Great Kabab Factory, the award-winning North Indian restaurant from Carlson Restaurants Worldwide.
The shopping centre’s planning consultant and sole leasing agents Asipac has got new leases for more than 6,00,000 square feet in the last 8-9 months. The property is currently 97 per cent leased.
Apart from tenants such as Metro, Mochi, Adidas, Nike, William Penn, Archies among others, Asipac has strategically targeted strong local retailers, including several well established high street names from Bangalore, including Showoff, Prestige – The Man Store, Favourite Shop, Vijaylakshmi Silks & Sarees, Davanam Jewellers, Shiv Sagar, Lal’s, Fazal’s, Kushal’s Fashion Jewellery, Sanskruti and Gangotree, as well as strong ethnicwear retailers from Hyderabad, including Kalanjali and Neerus.
Mantri Square also has a number of firsts to its credit. Apart from Taco Bell, Great Kabab Factory and Aura, it will also boast of Bangalore’s first OVS, Hush Puppies, Howards Storage World, Crocs, Celio, Marvel, Manyavar, Early Learning Centre, Esbeda, Alcott, Presto, Sunglass Hut, Addons, Holii, Boggi Milano, Toyopia, Bagzone, The Eyewear Store, Tie Rack London, Tissot, Rado, Editions, Addons, Hi Chai, Men & Boys and Ayesha stores. Also, 26 of the tenants will be doing business for the first time in a mall.
In addition to clothes, footwear and lifestyle accessories, Mantri Square will offer a wide range of ETIT (electronics, telecommunications and information technology) products under one roof in India with 11 ETIT stores, the widest range of sarees under one roof with eight stores, furniture & home accessories, bicycles, toys, prescription eyewear, maternity & newborn products, Indian sweets, real and fashion jewellery, luggage, wines & liquors, haircuts, pharmaceuticals, health & nutrition products, handicrafts, foreign exchange, photo processing, men’s tailoring, ladies tailoring, air and bus ticketing, financial services, personalised awards & trophies, express printing and even a multi-brand car gallery.
Asipac is projecting footfalls of 44,000 average daily visitors in 2010, going up to 72,000 average daily visitors when the Swastik Metro Station opens adjoining the mall in 2012.
— Indiaretailing Bureau
