South City Mall

The Destination Mall - biggest in India thus far! [Image source]
Come July, and Kolkata will be witness to opening of one of the largest integrated malls in the country. It’s the South City Mall, being billed as the city’s first ‘destination mall’. And why not!

South City Mall will be home to 4 anchors, each a biggie in its own merit. Pantaloons with 71000 sq ft, Shoppers’ Stop with 82500 sq ft and Spencer’s Hypermart of 72000 sq ft are the 3 super stores. It’s said that for all 3 the ones there are the largest in their respective chains.

If that seems falling short as a magnet for footfalls, they will be joined by a 6-screen muntiplex, the second Fame in the city by Shringar Cinema, spread over 60000sq ft. Of the 6, one will be what they say a Royal Class screen, a perfect setting for premieres, coming armed with completely reclining seats, and a VIP lounge to boot.

Behind the South City Mall’s impressive stadium-like structure is the giant South City condo-complex itself that will accommodate a large number of captive residents.

The 5-story mammoth destination mall will have many firsts to its credit. A 15000 sq ft central atrium and a large food court apart, it will have multi-level parking bays for access to each retail level.

That’s not all. There will be quite a few mini-anchors, for example 20000 sq ft Starmark, and 14000 sq ft Time Zone. With concept design by famous city architect Dulal Mukherjee, South Africa’s retail specialist, Bentel has done the ‘zone’ planning.

This is how Anil Khetawat, president, marketing puts it:

They have organized the circulation pattern inside the mall, segregating pedestrian and vehicular traffic on the peripheries and done clustering of retailers in such a manner that each floor has optimum footfall.

Whatever that means to us, the ordinary folks, in real terms, one thing is certain. South City Mall is certainly going to be THE destination mall in coming days, sucking in buyers from a vast ‘catchment area’ starting from Dhakuria at one end and stretching up to Tollygunge and beyond.

No wonder why South City developers want to build an exclusive flyover on Anwar Shah Road!

Related reading:

1. Destination mall in July
2. Kolkata of 2007

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