With a sharper focus and intent to give more space to F&B and FEC segment at the shopping centres, Oberoi Mall is planning to add close to 25,000-30,000 sqft of space to the Mumbai-based outfit, said Sameep Pathak, CEO – Mall, Oberoi Realty in an exclusive interaction with FinancialExpress.com. “With this kind of additional space, we will be carving out close to about 20-22 outlets ranging anywhere between 1,000 to 1200-1500 square feet. Our key focus in the year 2022 was the introduction of new brands especially from categories like fast fashion, F&B and FEC or family entertainment centres,” he said.
Oberoi Mall crossed its ‘highest ever sales’ of Rs 111 crore this year and is betting on similar growth numbers in the year 2023 as well. “The realisation of sales on a per sqft basis grew by about 17 per cent despite touching close to about 92-93 per cent of footfalls we recorded pre-Covid,” Sameep Pathak said. During the interaction, he also talked about the right tenant mix that’s working for the mall, in addition to its expansion plans. This includes an integrated property at Borivali East slated to be launched in November 2023; followed by another million and a half square feet asset to come up in Thane by 2025-26.
Here are the edited excerpts from the interview…
How did the year 2022 fare for you and the overall shopping malls segment?
I think the year started on a great note and it continued to show an upward trend. We crossed the highest ever sales since inception, which is Rs 111 crore. The trading density, which in a layman’s language is the realization of sale on a per square foot basis, grew by about 17 per cent. This is despite the fact that we are touching close to about 90-93 per cent of the footfalls we recorded pre-Covid that is the year 2019-2020. The footfalls have degrown by about 8-9 per cent even as the spent per head grew by about 34 per cent. So overall, the year went very well and we expect even the new year to have a good promising number ahead.
What are few of the new brand store launches expected in the coming months?
This year, we have seen some very good launches at the mall and this has really brought more reasons for customers to visit and we have opened outlets under categories like jewellery, beauty, women’s wear, fast fashion, etc. The new brand additions include ForeverMark, Bluestone, The Souled Store, GKB opticals, among others. One of the great addition to the mall is the family entertainment center, Timezone which is a 9,000 sqft of entertainment center. Going forward, we are carving out more space to add more categories.
What, according to you, is the right tenant mix at shopping centres of today?
In terms of the tenant mix, F&B comprises upto 13-14 per cent of the mall space today and we want to jump it to about 25 per cent. While this is not possible in our existing mall, we will apply this at our next asset. Next is entertainment which is about 11-12 per cent of the mall and this will also increase in our next asset. We will increase the size of FEC by four times of the current space in our next asset (from the current 9,000-10,000 sqft to about 35,000-40,000 sqft). And then of course the retail brands that will take close to about 70 per cent of the mall.
In terms of floor allocation, while premium brands and bridge to luxury brands prefer to have a second floor location; anchor tenants take the extreme left or extreme right of the ground and first floor. However, F&B brands, we think, should be sprinkled all across. Menswear goes on the first floor and women’s wear on the second floor.
How are pop-ups taking shape in malls of today?
I think pop-up is a great idea, which all of us are adopting. One reason is that it doesn’t require a long-term lease. Second, it’s beneficial for both mall operators and the pop-up operator to help them understand the customer response to the brand. The capex requirement for the pop-up is almost nil because most of the malls have their own setup ready for any pop-up operator to come and put in their products and start to play. So, the kind of agility you bring into this entire ecosystem of pop-up really works both ways.
What are your expansion plans or upcoming launches (projects, etc) and how much additional investment is planned?
Our next retail asset, which is a million square feet mall is coming up at Borivali East which is right on Western Express Highway, and it is an integrated development consisting of close to about 2,800 residential units, divided among 10-60 story towers. Then we have a million square feet mall and next to the mall, we have a five-star hotel coming up. The million square feet mall will have focus on F&B taking up about 25 per cent space, larger FEC with a 10 screen multiplex cinema, and a FEC which will be about 36,000 sqft and then best of the premium brands, catering to almost all the categories like hypermarkets to toys to beauty to departmental stores, electronics, apparels, footwear, etc. This asset is expected to get launched around Diwali of 2023. Our third asset is expected to come in Thane, which will be a million and a half square feet integrated development and we are expecting to open it by 2025-26. In terms of investment, Borivali property will have investment of around Rs 2500- 3000 crore and a similar kind of capex is expected for the Thane property as well.