India's shopping malls lose bustle as economy slows down

 Recently we made a study of the impact of shopping malls on the small retail stores. The study revealed that not many small retail stores but also some big departmental stores in the vicinity of the big malls had to close down. Nevertheless some of the big malls lost their attraction over the years due to lack of proper customer service, poor quality of product and so on. Therefore, many malls look deserted. The builders and developers are putting up malls in every corner of the city and then luring investors with false figures and hopes. It is not only slowing economy but also because of overdoing. The builders and developers are putting up malls in every corner of the city and then luring investors with false figures and hopes. They build malls without proper study of the viability and potentiality of the area such as the types of people that are going to come in. Moreover, it is trend all over the world that during the good years, people will be spending money lavishly-- buying cars, laptops, LCD TV, digital cameras, cloth, other household articles and other such items, besides dining in costly hotels. It is a fact that they just spend and put it on their credit cards. But when there is a slide in the economy, job may be scarce not be secure, salary increment may not happen, house asset value may not increase (or even decrease), their stocks investment may not fetch them unlimited profit...people feel insecure about the future. When people get worried, they stop spending on the luxuries, and these results in a chain reaction throughout the economy. The result is that there will not be enough people walking into the malls in the days ahead. It is no wonder that even In fast-growing cities like Ahmedabad, Pune and the New Delhi region, vacancy rates at malls are more than 25 percent. It is not surprising to note that at Phoenix Market City in Mumbai only 205 of the 255 leased stores are open; reports show that another 50 units might become dysfunctional in the course of next two years. It is indeed a down with mall syndrome!Dr.C.Murukadas, The Times of India, July 30, 2012