BackNavigating the ‘supermall’
Walking through India's first 'destination mall' with shopping addicts, the designer duo David Abraham and Rakesh Thakore
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Designers Rakesh Thakore and David Abraham are shopping addicts. Mallrats who love to browse, shop and window-shop wherever they are in the world. Two of the three brains behind one of India’s most respected fashion and design brands, Abraham & Thakore (their third partner, Kevin Nigli, isn’t as much of an addict), no conversation with them is complete without a hearty exchange of shopping notes. While Abraham will tell you—with a straight face supposed to mask his delight—that he can spend 8 hours in an exciting mall without tiring, Thakore even loves bustling markets like Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar, exploring them for undiscovered fashion ideas.
Since the two have been living in Noida, adjacent to Delhi, for seven years and have their manufacturing headquarters there too, they were our indisputable companions for a walk-through at the new Mall of India (MOI) in Noida’s Sector 18. It’s touted as the country’s first destination mall, with a built area of 2.7 million sq. ft and a retail space of 2 million sq. ft.
It’s Monday afternoon, supposedly a lacklustre hour for shoppers, so it should give us plenty of freedom to look around and take photographs. Soon enough, however, it’s clear that Monday afternoon is no dampener; the mall, with seven levels of food, entertainment and shopping, fills up by the minute.
Owned and developed by DLF Group Ltd, sections of the mall were thrown open last December. The formal launch took place on 26 April, weeks after H&M’s largest outlet in India—comprising four levels—opened here. Besides H&M, the Big Bazaar outlet on the lower ground floor is also the largest in India.
Abraham and Thakore wave cheerfully to someone—it turns out to be Aparna Bahl, a fashion-show choreographer who is working on a bridal show for the mall, with clothes curated from Indian bridal-wear brands to put out 50-60 looks. This show, with clothes from Meena Bazaar, Zardozi and Kalpana, among other stores, is scheduled for today.
International brands like Tommy Hilfiger, H&M, GAP (which has been offering a 50% sale for a few weeks now), Charles & Keith (C&K), Fossil, Kiehl’s, Nautica, Forever 21, Steve Madden, Rosso Brunello and Aldo, among many others, are clustered on the ground floor.
The mall currently has 18 anchor stores, 330 brands and more than 82 kiosk brands. It also has 75 food and beverage options, divided into restaurants, cafés, kiosks and the country’s largest food court, a large indoor entertainment area with Ski India (ticketed ice skating and all) over 100,000 sq. ft of space and a seven-screen multiplex by DT Cinemas. It has earmarked parking for women, the disabled and the elderly, as well as a first-aid room with an ambulance and nurse.
Three hundred fashion retail brands have already opened stores here. American footwear and accessories brand Cole Haan opened shop the day we visited. Both Abraham and Thakore say they love the brand. While Thakore and I admire a pair of white faux leather shoes at C&K ( ₹ 5,499)—Thakore’s recommendation, if you are looking for a white pair—Abraham troops into Cole Haan. Holding up a classic tassel loafer in deep cherry leather ( ₹ 13,499), he says that once upon a time, this shoe and Brooks Brothers’ suits defined the Ivy League nerds.
“What people wear when they come to shop, which stores are most crowded and which shopping bags they hold before they troop out are important indicators of mall trends," says Thakore, as the two bemoan the unimaginative lack of colour in men’s accessories. By then we have also begun distinguishing Noidaites from shoppers who are, well, presumably from Delhi—by the brands they are wearing. Later, when Pushpa Bector, the executive vice-president and mall head who worked passionately on the mall’s development for more than three years, tells us that the number of visitors has risen to 900,000, with huge crowds from Delhi (and not just Noida), it all fits in.
A little bit of prodding reveals that both Abraham and Thakore have a shoe fetish. Two hundred pairs? I ask Thakore. He smiles, shaking his head, saying he has recently been giving away many pairs but yes, he has lots—summer sandals, chappals, slip-ons and formal shoes included. Abraham does a quick mental calculation and admits he certainly owns more than 60 pairs.
That’s not all. The two also love Kiehl’s skincare store. Thakore converts me to the wonders of a men’s hand cream—non-greasy and light. At ₹ 1,000 for a 75ml tube, it is a smooth gift for men. Abraham says he likes the window at the Anita Dongre store, with its balanced array of male and female mannequins in tan and black ensembles. Let me add then that the windows at Bombay Selections were an eyesore—gold mannequins, some propped inside gold cages, orange artificial flowers, curtains drawn to suggest a staged spectacle and metallic decorations—all made for hair-raising kitsch. I personally loved the windows at Amante, the lingerie brand—the mannequins bare the many changes in the visual retelling of trends in Indian malls.
Many fashion designers like Abraham and Thakore have their manufacturing units in Noida—yet only Ritu Kumar (two storeys in different categories) and Anita Dongre (three storeys in different categories) are present here. There are no multi-designer stores like Ogaan or Ensemble.
Bector spoke about store categorization on each level—high street, designer brands, Indian-ethnic, sports brands, children’s brands, home design and decor, etc. But that classification doesn’t really stick. Clarks, the international leather shoe brand, is near the Ritu Kumar Label and Anokhi. ASICS, a shoe brand, is far away from Reebok and Adidas. Hamleys and Mothercare are on the children’s floor two levels up, but right next to Mothercare is Pure, a beautiful brand of hand-made décor products. All said and done, however, the MOI is a truly gratifying shopping experience.
I missed Good Earth here, and also noticed that there is no brand—high street or premium—that defines the modern, minimal, pared down look. But when Thakore comments—over Modinagar Shikanji (lemonade) at Chaayos, a tea café on the lower ground floor—that this is a smart mall, it’s hard to disagree.
It also represents Noida’s coming of age as a “destination".
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