After remaining shut for nearly six months, shopping malls in Chennai's finally reopened for business. While the Centre had allowed malls to reopen in June, the Tamil Nadu government did not permit them to resume operations across the state, until Sunday (August 30), when a government order gave these businesses the green signal to reopen.

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While mall and store owners were gung-ho about the decision, troubling questions surrounding the immediate future of malls continued to hang low over these establishments.

On day one of reopening, most customers gave malls a miss.

Phoenix Marketcity reopens 162 out of 315 stores

At Phoenix Marketcity and Palladium Chennai, for instance, only 162 out of 315 stores within both connected malls reopened on Tuesday. "We are expecting more to reopen as the weeks go by," said Pooja Patti, Centre Director, Phoenix Marketcity and Palladium, Chennai.

A number of issues have come in the way of stores reopening. Lack of manpower owing to mass reverse-migration, liquidity concerns and doubts over demand in physical retail are some of these limiting factors. However, while the reopening statistic seems bleak, there is some semblance of optimism in terms of new launches.

Phoenix Marketcity and Palladium Chennai saw 162 of 315 stores within the mall reopen, on Tuesday.

“We have a total count of 10 new stores which are opening up in Phoenix and Palladium," Patti shared, "Berkenstock and jeans brands are opening in Palladium this week itself, we have OnePlus opening in Phoenix in a month's time. We also have Seiko, Blue Stone and Mad Over Donuts opening this week," she added.

As stores reopened, round-the-clock sanitization was high atop their list of priorities.

Express Avenue sees 200 out of 220 stores reopen

Phoenix’s competitor, Chennai-based Express Avenue has fared much better on the reopening front — 200 out of 220 stores within the mall have reopened — and with good reason.

Express Avenue saw 200 of 220 stores reopen for business on the back of a five-month rental waiver offered by the mall management.

All 220 stores within Express Avenue received rental waivers during the six months of lockdown, on one condition — that all stores reopen the day the government permits resumption of business. The management says 200 stores were willing to meet that condition.

Stores that reopened fitted social distancing markers along the floor to ensure customer safety.

Malls wear a desolate look

Maybe it’s because it isn’t the weekend yet, but most of Chennai’s malls, Phoenix and Express Avenue included, wore a desolate look on the first day of reopening, prompting the question that is on every owner and retailer’s mind: will cash registers at their stores ring again?

Stores that stayed shut missed their date with reopening owing to workforce availability - or the lack of it.

Express Infrastructure, which runs Express Avenue, believes is optimistic about that bet, predicting that the lockdown could have a springboard effect on customer sentiment. “Because of five months of lockdown, there is a huge pent-up demand; there is a huge revenge-shopping that will happen,” said Munish Khanna, Chief Revenue Officer at Express Infrastructure, “People are bored of sitting at home, they want to go out.”

Chennai's only Zara store isn't open yet for business.

A scattering of customers that did manage to catch up on shopping at Phoenix Marketcity seemed in good spirits and had no apprehensions of shopping, even amid a steady count of COVID-19 cases in Chennai. "I'm waiting for the theatres to reopen," said Suriya, who stopped by the mall to pick some merchandise from Gas.

"There's a sale also going on, so I do feel excited," said Akshara, with a Scotch and Soda bag in tow, "I think I'd rather finish my shopping now than come back when there’s a lot of crowd that returns to malls; I feel safer now."

A significant number of stores stayed shut even as Chennai's malls reopened for business.

'Confident of 100 percent recovery by November'

Khanna believes that Express Avenue’s footfalls will be between 25-30 percent through September and October, with a noticeable spike towards the end of October. “In October and November, when the festive season is going to start, we should be easily clocking 75 to 80 percent of last year’s sales,” he added, “By November and December, we should be 100 percent (of last year’s sales).” Like Phoenix Marketcity, Express Avenue is also all set to close six new deals for new store openings within the mall.

With strict government regulations surrounding social distancing and entry of customers, malls have installed some nifty new technology to not just keep an eye on numbers, but also ensure safety in the post-COVID world.

Phoenix Marketcity: Newly installed AI keeps customers safe

Phoenix Marketcity and Palldium have thermal scanners, which keep a close eye on customers’ temperature, even as an employee physically checks their Arogya Sethu apps. “A temperature of 98.5 degrees Fahrenheit is the requisite. Anybody above 98.5 means the screen will turn red and sound off an alarm,” Pooja explains, “We will then either re-check temperatures or isolate, or bar customers from entering the mall.”

The mall’s newly installed AI also displays a count of how many customers have entered the mall premises and how many are inside, with an upper limit of 13,500 customers permitted to remain within the mall building. The tech also keeps a count of footfalls within Phoenix’s food court.

The plan is clear – retailers and mall-owners alike are targeting the festive season to bring crowds back into malls, and hopefully get them to shop more. Will that plan work or will it fall flat? Only the next two months will tell.

First Published:Sept 1, 2020 10:46 PM IST