Future Group to position Crossroads as luxury mall

The Kishore Biyani-owned Future Group is planning to position Crossroads as a high-end luxury mall. The Future group had bought the mall from the Ashok Piramal Group in March 2006 for Rs 251 crore.

A Future group source said: "It is a dream project of Kishore Biyani and he himself is handling the project. Most probably, we will go for a luxury mall. In Pune too, we will do a similar project and we will draw a blueprint soon," the official said.

Future Group CEO Kishore Biyani said: "We recently got possession of the mall. We are toying with 2-3 ideas, but nothing has been finalised as yet."

The Piramal Group had sold off the mall since they could not generate enough footfalls and volumes. The group was supposed to hand over the mall by March 31, 2007, but some tenants refused to vacate their stores since they had paid lease rents for the whole year.

The Ashok Piramal Group's real estate company, Peninsula Land's, Managing Director Rajesh Jaggi said all the tenants had handed over the possession of the mall, except for McDonalds, which owns the land.

"There will not be any major restructuring in the mall. McDonalds will continue to operate from the same space," a Future group source said.

In Mumbai, luxury retailing is mostly restricted to five-star hotels and stand-alone stores unlike other metros such as Bangalore and Delhi which have luxury malls. Atria Mall in Worli and Grand Hyatt hotel are the few places which are engaged in luxury retailing in the city.

Another retailer Shoppers' Stop is planning to set up luxury stores under the brand, Verdi, in metros including Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai. The stores, spread over 1.2 lakh sq feet each, will house most of the global brands as shop-in-shop concept.

Banking on the growing affluence and aspirations of the young Indians, global luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Jean Paul Gaultier and Gucci, Tag Heur, Espirit, Armani, Gabbana, Escada, Dunhill are betting big on India. They are either starting stand-alone stores or opening shops in malls.

Analysts are also bullish about the concept of luxury retailing in the country. "There is an absolute shortage of space for luxury brands in the country. Foreign tourists always buy these brands here owing to lower prices than elsewhere. Crossroads with high accessibility and affluent crowd will make a good destination for luxury retailing," said retail analyst Susil Dungarwal.