LAHORE: It has only been a few years since the introduction of large-scale malls in Lahore. Since then, an overwhelming response by the public has given enough incentives to investors to develop the ‘mall culture’ in the city.
Recently, Dupak Developers, a group involved in real estate, shopping mall and retail development, has complete Lahore’s biggest mall yet, The Fortress Square.
The mall provides every facility that people expect, from different retail brands to cinemas and food courts under one roof. The demand is not one-sided as brands are also looking for more and more malls to showcase their high-end products.
“We have just opened the mall for public, and renowned brands have occupied 90% of the outlets we offer, showing the interest of such brands in these centres,” said Fortress Square Services Marketing Manager Muhammad Haseeb Khan, while talking to The Express Tribune.
New trends always receive a positive response from the general public, and especially lifestyle and shopping trends is dear to Lahore more than any other city in the country, said Khan.
The ideal location of the mall in - Lahore Cantonment and under Army supervision – is preferred by the shoppers as it provides a more ‘peaceful environment.
Above all, the grocery retail outlet ‘Hyper-star’ is already attracting a heap of customers daily, as a good location and a five-year systematic investment of Rs1.75 billion is starting to pay dividends.
Though there are over 500 different retail and wholesale markets in Lahore, the city is late in adopting the megamall culture unlike Karachi, where this trend started around 15 years back.
Currently, there are only two state-of-the-art multi-purpose shopping malls in Lahore, which can be called mega-malls. The first is the Mall of Lahore, established by property tycoon Malik Riaz, and the second is The Fortress Square.
Though these malls might serve the shoppers for a long time, Khan believes that in the next five years, the whole scenario will change and this culture will grip the city as many other projects are under construction, dominated by Mian Muhammad Mansha and Syed Babar Ali under their business empires, Nishat Group and Packages.
“With the launch of such malls in coming years, small- scale malls would become obsolete, as the competition then will only be on services and not on their size or covered areas or brands,” said Khan. “Every mall has a life span of five to seven years.”
Despite renovations and added facilities, a mall will see initial boom and will indefinitely decline at one point, being replaced by new entrants, he added.
Earlier, the management focused on opening the mall at a more high-end area of the city, but discovered that majority of the visitors are middle or low-income individuals.
Khan said they have revised their marketing strategy and are now focusing on those areas which attract shoppers the most.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 16th, 2015.
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