Fitness enthusiasts are using the sanitised, pot-hole free expanses of malls for exercise.
It is very rare to spot any activity at 5:40 am inside a mall. The shutters are all down, the security guards want to go home after another sleepless night and the sweepers are yet to stride in. However, if you walk into Mumbai’s Inorbit mall in Malad you will find a group of 70 to 80 people of all age groups on their morning walk on the mall’s 300-metre oval track. Some can even be seen doing yoga.
The mall has run this “mall walk” for a year now. With few parks in the city and the deplorable condition of its pavements, the mall offers a convenient option to people who live close by. Spread across an area of 364,000 square feet, Inorbit lets senior citizens, fitness enthusiasts and even the occasional runner utilise its parking lot and deserted aisles. The mall also provides tea, lemonade and other beverages to the group along with washroom facilities — all free of charge. The air-conditioning is not switched on so early in the day but the blowers are put on. The escalators are usually turned off, encouraging the group to climb the stairs.
Puraprakash Khanna, 71, had a bypass surgery in 2007 and was advised regular exercise by his doctor. Two months into the mall walk at Inorbit and he had lost three kg. “It’s safe, clean and free of any hazard of pollution or traffic. The best part is that the mall walk is a saviour from the humid climate and torrential rains of Mumbai,” he says. The place is also free of muggers – a hazard senior citizens face on their daily constitutionals. His wife, Poonam, who is beset with insomnia has also benefitted. “The routine of long morning walks in a safe and clean environment helps her sleep peacefully and lose weight too,” says Khanna. Enjoying the interactive experience, the participants of the mall walk have also formed a laughter club and a senior citizens’ club.
What’s in it for the mall? Is it customer loyalty at little extra cost? “The mall walk is more of a community-building exercise that helps in the creation of a personal connection with the customer. It was not started with the goal to generate more footfalls but it has fostered greater brand loyalty,” says the mall’s chief executive officer, Kishore Bhatija.
While the concept of mall walking has been popular in Europe and the US for a while, the idea is beginning to gain momentum in India. The fact that malls now are bigger than before has helped. Five years ago, there were smaller malls in the country that ranged from 120,000 square feet to 250,000 square feet. Today, malls are community centres with food courts, night bazaars and multiplexes, thereby taking up more space. Some even measure over a million square feet!
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The trend is catching up in Delhi too. With more real estate available to developers in the city than in Mumbai, bigger and bigger malls are being built. The size of the mall, and the greater number of brands they can accommodate, has become the differentiator in the city malls. Walkers don’t seem to mind. Spread over two million square feet, the Ambience mall in Gurgaon could soon open its doors to organised walking groups. “As one of the bigger malls in the country, we understand we have social obligations. We have around 8.5 km of just railings. That is a mark of the large size of the mall,” remarks vice-president (operations) Vijay Aima. “Mall walking may just become the ideal exercise in the next few years for shopaholics and that too unconsciously!”
Sudha Gupta, 36, finds it slightly mundane to go for early morning jogs in the hot weather. So, she often drops her children to the school and comes to the Ambience mall for exercise. “The weather is too hot right now to go to a park. Personally, I prefer walking to (exercising on) machines. It’s a safer place for women and a brisk walk from one exit of this mall to another is a good warm-up. Once I finish walking across the entire mall, which includes shopping for groceries at Big Bazaar, I am exhausted,” she says. The mall has an average walking distance of 1 km on each of its seven floors and a hypermarket that is spread across 120,000 square feet.
Select Citywalk in South Delhi has also spotted the trend. “Since the city has more greenery than Mumbai, the trend isn’t very popular here. Yet, we do find senior citizens coming to the mall and enjoying the ambience,” says a spokesperson. “I often come here with my grandchildren… I drop them off at the play area and walk around the mall. For a retired man, this is a good place to socialise and maintain his health,” says Suresh Gulati, 67. The mall covers around 240 metres on each floor.
In the US, mall walking is a recognised form of exercise. Sara Donovan, founder and president of WalkSport America (the largest mall-walking group there), discusses the various techniques and health benefits of mall-walking in her book, Mall Walking Madness: Everything You Need To Know To Lose Weight And Have Fun At The Same Time (available on Amazon). Not only does it help you lose weight but can also ease chronic pain and disability, she says. Zeeshan Ahmad, consultant physiotherapist at the Rotary Physiotherapy Clinic in south Delhi, concurs. “One of the greatest benefits of mall walking is that it acts as a stress buster. The mall offers a more social atmosphere than walking on a treadmill… it is one of the best workouts for all-round health and fitness.”
Here’s how it helps. A person weighing around 70 kg can burn up to 250 calories walking briskly for one hour at a speed of 3.5 km/hour in a mall. “The exercise can help lower blood pressure and raise levels of high density lipoprotein, which is the ‘good’ cholesterol. Along with strengthening bones and preventing osteoporosis, mall-walking can lower blood sugar, reducing the risk of diabetes,” says Ahmad. Like every other form of exercise, certain precautions must be taken in the case of mall-walking too. “Juice breaks for those who are diabetic or are trying to lose weight must be avoided,” says Ishi Khosla, clinical nutritionist and director, Wholefoods India. The most important element in a walking ensemble is a good pair of walking shoes with firm heel cups for stability and a sole to enhance smooth heel-to-toe motion. Loose, comfortable and light apparel is preferred.
Mall rats never had it better.