They are big names and they want it big. As big as possible.

The city’s retail sector is experiencing a rush of adrenaline with international players like Marks and Spencer, Mango, Costa Coffee and McDonald’s and national ones like RPG Retail, Reliance Retail and the Future Group angling for bigger spaces from anywhere between 3,000 and 50,000 square feet.

The result has been frenetic construction in and around Calcutta.

There’s another fallout, of course: the retail rush would push up commercial real estate prices. But these are all big players with deep pockets. Money is no problem if the space is right.

So the real estate market is purring.

“I am developing property with 6 lakh square feet of retail space, most of which will be taken up either by hypermarkets or large-format retail stores,” says Pradip Chopra, honorary secretary of the Bengal unit of apex real estate body Credai.

Mani Square, beside Apollo Gleneagles Hospital on the eastern fringes of the city, is a prime example. The 6 lakh square feet of space developed has already been taken up by players like RPG Retail (50,000 square feet) and Westside (30,000 square feet). Another 25,000 square feet is for Pantaloons e-mart and e-zone, while IMAX and Adlabs together have taken up 40,000 square feet, says Subesh Ray, senior vice-president and head of marketing, Mani Group.

Spencer has also taken up 70,000 square feet at the South City mall.

“The increase in space is in direct proportion with the increasing importance of the role of merchandising and zoning in vying for the consumer’s attention. The greater the space, the more the scope for creating differential experiences,” Ray says.

Industry sources say the entry of Reliance Retail, of Reliance Industries Limited, in the city markets before the year-end would kick up the retail sector’s pulse rate even higher.

With its fleet of 40 planes to feed the chain, Reliance Retail is now collecting feedback on the city’s supply network for its hypermarket of 1-1.5 lakh square feet and supermarkets of 50,000 square feet.

The huge demand for space is also because of the international brands which are bringing in portfolios instead of just one brand. Marks and Spencer, Guess, Next, Bodyshop and Women’s Secret have taken up 30,000 square feet at the Avani High, near Rabindra Sadan. The Marks and Spencer store will be one of its largest in the country.

“The 1.2 lakh-square-foot women’s mall on Park Street would also have a similar international package with Mango, Nine West, Eldo, L’affaire, Charles & Keith taking up similar space along with Planet Sports,” says Aniruddh Daga, managing director, Avani Group.

“The advent of retail giants opting primarily for such large-format anchor stores implies that developers will have to give them preferential rent for their presence,” points out Kalyanjyoti Ghosh, retail head, NK Realtors.

My Dollar store, which has been having a successful run in Mumbai, has signed up for 20,000 square feet in New Town, Rajarhat, and is now looking at central business district areas.

Lifestyle, which is part of the Dubai-based Landmark Group, is looking around for 1 lakh square feet while its footwear and apparel brand, Max, will soon touch down in the city with an 8,000-10,000-square-foot anchor store on a mall being developed on EM Bypass.

Several entertainment companies are also adding to the clamour for space.

Mumbai-based Fun Republic is scouting for locations in Howrah and south Calcutta while Cinemax is looking for properties between 30,000 and 35,000 square feet in Rajarhat and Howrah. M2K, a New Delhi-based multiplex, has signed up a 25,000-27,000 square feet area on EM Bypass.

Market watchers, however, see a slowdown ahead. According to a study on the retail scenario by two organisations, KSA Technopak and Images Retail, the rate of growth in mall space would drop from 97 per cent in 2005 to about 61per cent in 2007.

Developers concur on the point that in the long run, some of these malls might have to close down. The difference, they say, will depend on the way these malls are managed and the right product mix.

In other words, survival of the fittest.