Super Sunday: Crowds, smiles return to malls in Kolkata

KOLKATA: The retail industry in Kolkata is showing definite signs of recovery with malls registering a sales surge and rise in footfall in the post-Covid era on successive Sundays. Customers have also gradually begun to shift from purchase of only essentials to buying fashion and leisure items.
Encouraged by the turnout and the turnover, mall operators projected a return to 50%-65% of the pre-Covid business by mid-September.

Most malls had reported decent footfall on August 2 with South City, the ‘weather vane’ among malls registering 13,000 walk-ins. The figure soared to nearly 19,000 on Sunday. Among other malls, City Centre-I in Salt Lake clocked 15,000, City Centre-II in New Town 9,000 and Acropolis 8,000. While Quest and Forum acknowledged that Sunday’s footfall was the highest since malls reopened for business on June 8, they did not reveal figures.
At South City mall, the parking lot filled up for the first time in over six months. In all, there were 2,500 cars and 700-plus two-wheelers. Customers appeared relaxed and in a mood to shop rather than rush through the purchase of essentials. They spent time at luxury and fashion stores, at restaurants and at the food court.
“It appears people are beginning to overcome lockdown jitters and rising Covid numbers to accept the new normal and step out to visit places they considered safe while taking adequate precautions,” said South City mall vice-president Manmohan Bagree. The mall recorded a turnover of Rs 82 lakh on Sunday with food & beverage accounting for Rs 10 lakh.
“On Sunday, we recorded the highest ever retail sales and food court business since the outbreak of Covid-19. In the Rs 1-crore turnover recorded on Sunday, the highest sales was registered at lifestyle stores followed by accessories, hypermarket, apparel and jewellery. It is a booster shot for the retail and F&B industry,” said Acropolis mall general manager K Vijayan.
Others said Sunday’s turnout held great hope of a sooner-than-expected revival. “Retailers are delighted with the response. Everyone did decent business after a long time. If the momentum persists, we should be at the 60-65% of pre-Covid business by September 15,” said Ramesh Pandey, wholetime director of Ambuja Neotia group that owns and operates the two City Centre malls in Kolkata.
While retailers were apprehensive about the complete lockdown when they were announced in July-end, they now believe the staggered lockdown that was announced in advance has helped business by ensuring savings on electricity and other recurring costs on those days while catering to higher footfall and sales on others.
Quest and Forum, too, said they had registered the best sales since reopening in June.