Malls meet revenue targets three weeks before Diwali as footfall soars in Kolkata

KOLKATA: The last lap of shopping on the final weekend ahead of Durga Puja exceeded expectations at city malls with at least three facilities clocking higher footfall over the three days than they did during the corresponding period last year.
The high footfall has also resulted in a spike in sales. While malls were expecting the Puja to act as a catalyst, they have all met the target at least three weeks ahead of Diwali with bumper sales over the past three weeks.“It’s been a fantastic pre-Puja outing. In terms of footfall, the patrons are as good as pre-Covid time and on some days even 10% more,” said Ramesh Pandey of Ambuja Neotia that operates City Centre I in Salt Lake and City Centre II in New Town. While 90,000 people walked into CC-I over the weekend, CC-II clocked 75,000 walk-ins.
CC-I raked in Rs 3 crore in just three days while CC-II mopped up Rs 2.4 crore. For the week, it’s been Rs 6 crore and Rs 5 crore respectively.
South City, the city’s largest mall and among the country’s most successful, saw the footfall jump from 2 lakh last weekend to 2.5 lakh between Friday and Sunday. It ended the week with Rs 20 crore revenue — the last three days accounting for Rs 12 crore. What came as a big surprise to the mall operator was the high food and beverage sales that has grown 35%-40% over last year. “The food court as well as restaurants have done phenomenally well,” said vice-president Manmohan Bagri.
Acropolis also witnessed a higher footfall during the weekend. The mall’s operational head K Vijayan said footfall had increased by 15% everyday over the past few days, keeping mall employees on their toes. “We observed an increase in serious shoppers. It is a breather for them as they have been enjoying quality time with family with all safety and hygiene norms in place,” he said.
Last week, the mall has clocked Rs 5 crore revenue, higher than the target it had set three weeks ago. The weekend accounted for Rs 2.5 crore.
Forum, the city’s first mall, also saw the footfall zoom to 45,000 during the week, nearly half of it over the weekend. It clocked a revenue of Rs 2.6 crore over the week and Rs 1.2 crore over the weekend. “The business has been swell. We are looking forward to continued excitement over the next few days,” said mall head Ujjwal.