Wedding mall opened in city

Shagun, the first mall in Kolkata dedicated to shopping exclusively for wedding, was launched today.

The mall, with built up space of 20,000 square feet across five levels, will provide all one needs for wedding, starting from bridal saris, cosmetic products, jewellery to watches, perfumes and all other accessories one can think of.

Jaydeep Khaitan, director of the mall, said the new facility would cater to the estimated Rs 7,000 crore market for wedding shopping.

"Kolkata is one the largest market for such shopping in the east. Even people from other regions come here since items are cost competitive," he said.

Shagun mall is expecting average footfall of 1,500 per day. It is expecting a turnover of Rs 35 crore in the first full year of operation. Khaitan has invested Rs 15 crore for the facility which he claimed first time in India itself.

Interestingly, there will not be any franchisee in this mall. Everything will be sold by Khaitans. "We will make outright purchase from companies and sell to customers. We will sale only established brands," he said. Most of the dress materials will, however, be made in-house.

The mall is expected to cater to all cross sections of society. Going forward, the mall will add more items for grooms as well.

Asked about providing service like catering and wedding planning, Khaitan said such options would be looked at going forward.

Shagun is the first in the long list of dedicated malls that are planned in Kolkata. A mall only for home building sector and another for cars are coming up in the city apart from plenty of multi purpose malls.