No highs of the high street

Perhaps he has hit the nail on the head. For India, despite its claims to offer almost the entire world?s leading brands for the uber rich, there is not yet a market or an avenue that could unreservedly be called a ?high street? to compare with New York?s Fifth Avenue or London?s Oxford Street. From the traditional Connaught Place in Delhi to Mumbai?s majestic Marine Drive or the Kala Ghoda area, or even Khader Nawaz Khan Road in Chennai, besides new ones like DLF?s Emporio in Delhi or Zephyr in Bangalore ? there are several wannabes aspiring to the position.

?We are not even remotely near high streets,? says Frances Shanker, COO, Leading Brands of the World, who says typically a high street provides the luxury customer a space to indulge in some serious retail therapy with the right mix of tradition and modernity, perfect behind-the-counter manners leading to the latest fashion trends, often before they are released to the market! And we are not talking of the run-of-the-mill mall, of which India already crossed 100 and with a further 300+ to be added by the end of this year.

?A high street is very necessary to attract the right customer,? feels Stanislas de Quercize, president and CEO of watch brand Van Cleef and Arpels, who have been scouting around for the right address for a while now. The company has yet to set up a flagship or signature store. A cursory glance shows that most top-end brands have opted for luxury hotels as their preferred destination ? Mont Balnc shares a corridor with Aigner in Maurya in Delhi, while the Taj in Mumbai sees it sharing space with Canali, Fendi, Moschino and Gerard Perregaux.

The usual problems are cited ? lack of adequate shop space, spiralling real estate prices, poor infrastructure, especially parking. ?India needs high streets, but the retail expense at the moment is not right,? says designer Ravi Bajaj, who explains that houses like Versace may be able to sink in money, but most Indian designers do not aspire to share similar space.? That while retail prices in Delhi?s top end would be a third of New York in a comparable area, the purchasing power would be on a ratio of 1:80. Sanjay Sharma, country manager, Swarovski, too stresses on the extremely high retail costs as a factor, saying that is always a consideration.

While salivating over the potential of a virtually virgin market for luxury retail in India, the luxury retailers, top global brands and experts also recognise that like the situation in China a decade ago, the situation here has its own challenges. Among the debates is whether we need a western-style high street at all. Biren Vaidya, CEO, Rose, a luxury retail outlet in Mumbai says Indians are ?more concerned about what?s inside, and do not mind going to the right destination in search of what they want.? Designer Manish Malhotra too says the current outlets are definitely on the right track to provide the right retail experience, while his colleague Vijay Arora feels that while his high-end ice cream parlour Gelato Vittorio needs to be in a high footfall location, retailing in fashion is preferable through multi-brand stores like Kimaya and Aza. The latter recently set up shop in Delhi?s new mall, The Crescent, which houses a number of the nation?s top-end designers, and owner Alka Atul Nishar is confident of attracting the right customer. As they point out, the concept of a high street in Europe differs from that in Asia, which is far more prey to the cult of mass luxury. ?In Asia, a high street for pure luxury doesn?t exist,? says premium brands retailer Yashovardhan Saboo, who says most of the labels present in India today, like Rado, Zara, Longines, Espirit are not true-blood luxury brands.

?Isolated? is the term experts use for the location of premium stores in India. Someone in south Mumbai is not going to spend two hours going to Grand Hyatt in Santa Cruz to shop regularly, says Emanuel Cantegrel, GM, Somfy a high-end interiors firm. ?Brands are dotted in lonely dribs and drabs all over Mumbai,? says Radha Chadha in her book, The Cult of the Luxury Brand.

The closest replica to a high street in Chennai is the Khader Nawaz Khan Road, a half-a-kilometre stretch, which houses at least 15 of the top designer label and brand stores in the country. Coupled with refreshments at Barista or a rejuvenation session at Naturally Auroville, Khader Nawaz Road is the ultimate shopping destination for Chennai?s high-profile shoppers. However, the road is only loosely held together by tar and is full of potholes.

Shanker is scathing of the lack of planning on the part of government agencies to provide for a luxury high street. ?Municipalities need to plan for high streets, and Indian cities have little space for large enough flagship stores, which not just have a larger range of products, but provide the much-needed awareness about the product,? she says. The average store for a leading premium brand would be about 8,000 to 10,000 sqft while in India a 2,000 sqft shop would be considered large. ?Generally, high streets are developed by government agencies as part of the town/city development vision. Some examples are present in Chandigarh, where each sector has something called a community centre,? says Sandeep Mukim, chief operations (central and brand factory), Pantaloon Retail (India). While he discounts the existence of any high street in Hyderabad, Bangalore?s Commercial Street and Brigade Road have the potential, he feels, a thought seconded by head of the Bangalore Commercial Association, Mohammed Nazim. ?Commercial street, which has about 8,000 footfalls daily on an average has a unique charm not found elsewhere,? he says. ?A high street can happen in locations like Delhi?s Connaught Place,? feels Ravissants? Vishal Chawla. ?It?ll be a matter of two to three brands making a location trendy.?

The size of the Indian luxury market is currently estimated to be about $100 million. But with a sizable number of Indians shopping abroad, the lack of a counterpart to Milan?s Via Monzoni or even Hong Kong?s Peninsula could well hold back the luxury sector from retailing to its full potential.

?Inputs from Reema Jose in Bangalore, Kavitha Venkatraman in Hyderabad and S Shyamala in Chennai