Malls dot Ahmedabad skyline

Over a dozen new shopping malls and departmental stores have come up in the city in the last few years. They include Pantaloons, West Side, Food Bazaar and Super Mall.

The latest entrant is Bazaar Kolkata, which was inaugurated at CG Road last week.

"Ahmedabad is a business centre and the people of Gujarat love shopping. They have sufficient spending power. That is why we inaugurated our second centre in Ahmedabad. The first one in Surat was opened 18 months back. We will expand to other cities of Gujarat as well," said Subash Goyal, director, Bazaar Kolkata.

The concept of departmental stores was introduced in the city in the early 90s by Vahid Ravji.

Ravji's super market was taken over by Adanis in 2000 and at present, Adanis have outlets in almost all major locations in Ahmedabad as well as other cities in the state.

"In fact, the concept of super malls and hyper markets came late to Gujarat. Companies are entering Gujarat after setting up malls in metros and bigger cities. However, their is a big scope for all and these malls and hyper markets are going to help the consumers. They get all what they want from a single place and they have the advantage of competitive pricing," said Vahid Ravji, head, retails division, Adani Super Market.

Pantaloons entered Ahmedabad in 1998, while West Side has entered the city in 2003.

Recently, Big Bazaar opened its ninth centre in Ahmedabad. "Since our target customers are from the middle class and upper middle class, Ahmedabad is a good market for us. We have received a very good response since its opening. The people of Ahmedabad enjoy shopping and eating outside," said Anand Adukia, stores manager, Big Bazaar.

Super Mall, a shopping mall with over 200 shops, was inaugurated in June, 2003. The mall on around 90,000 sq ft was designed by Ashok Purohit.

Purohit owns City Pulse multiplex at Gandhinagar. "Super Mall is the first shopping mall of the city. Shopping malls provide the customers with the options to choose from variety of goods of various brands," said Hasmukh Gadhecha, director, Diamond Infrastructure Pvt Ltd, promoters of Super Mall.

Iskon Mall, another shopping market, is expected to be operational in the CG Road area in a few months.