SHOPPING MALLS LOSING BUSTLE

ONE of the most vibrantlooking businesses— shopping mall business— seems to be going through a rough patch, with major malls in the Capital witnessing a significant drop in transactions. Businesses in prominent city malls like Sherpa Mall, City Centre, Civil Mall and United World Trade Centre (UWTC), among others, have reported a 35-50 percent drop in business activity compared to the normal period, especially due to the increase in the number of small shopping spaces across the valley. Until a few years ago, people living outside the ring road and in the valley suburbs had no other option but to visit downtown Kathmandu for shopping. But the scenario now has changed with the opening of small malls around the valley. “Major shopping malls in the capital city are passing through a hard time,” said Rajesh Lamichhane, chief general manager at City Centre, one of the most premium shopping malls. “Although there isn’t much fall in visitor numbers, the customer count to sale conversion ratio has gone down significantly.” He said City Centre has been receiving around 11,000 footfalls during weekends (Friday-Sunday) and around 5,000-6,000 during weekdays (Monday-Thursday). Considering the slowdown in the business, traders have asked the City Centre management to slash rent. The situation is such that a difference on the rent issue kept the mall closed for three days last week. A trader operating a shœ store in City Centre said the business currently is “depressing”. “Such a situation had never arisen in the last four years since I opened the shœ store,” he said. There are around nine big malls operating within the Kathmandu valley. And, around half dozen malls are under construction which are expected to come into operation within 2014. Swadesh Gurung, director of Civil Mall, another prominent shopping mall of the country, admits that the charm of shopping malls has faded a bit. “Compared to previous years, the business is slow. Visitors do not seem much interested in making purchases,” complained Gurung. He, however, said there has not been a severe impact on Civil Mall as it is centrally located. “Also, we have been launching several consumer schemes and various events are being organised time-to-time to attract customers,” he said. Ganesh Dhungana, General Manager at KL Tower at Chuchepati, says the involvement of traders who “cannot match up to the mall concept” has played a spoilsport in the development of mall business. “There are many local traders who think they can sell normal quality products at higher rates at shopping malls,” Dhungana said. “They sell the same products at malls at rates higher than what is charged at other normal outlets.” Traders also say the mall concept has been misused. “Every other multi-storeyed building in the town is operating as a mall,” a trader at Civil Mall said. “This has derailed the concept of mall. Mall managements should hold talks with the authorities concerned to halt the misuse of the concept.”