The South City Mall on Prince Anwar Shah Road

Nearly a million sq ft of shop-eat-entertain space, with multi-level parking for 1,400 cars, three anchor tenants that are the largest in the country in their respective chains, the city's first six-screen multiplex with a Royal Class…

Mall-eria continues to grip the metro, but it hasn’t got bigger than this before. The South City Mall on Prince Anwar Shah Road, Calcutta’s “first destination mall”, will throw open its shop floor in early July, adding to the razzmatazz in the retail racks.

“We will open the entire mall in one shot in July, including all the anchors and the vanilla brands,” Sushil Mohta, director, South City Projects, told Metro. The Rs 250crore-plus mall is attached to the mammoth South City condo complex.

Pantaloons (71,000 sq ft), Shoppers’ Stop (82,500 sq ft), Spencer’s Hypermart (72,000 sq ft) and Shringar Cinema’s Fame multiplex will be the four anchors. “For all three, Pantaloons, Shoppers’ and Spencer’s, the South City Mall outlets will be the largest in their respective chains,” added Anil Khetawat, president, marketing.

Marks & Spencer, Guess, Next and Planet Sports will also be present, as part of the brand bouquet franchised by Planet Sports Pvt Ltd in India, while negotiations are on to bring in a few other high-profile international brands through the same company.

The six-screen Fame cineplex will be spread across 60,000 sq ft with five regular screens and a Royal Class screen, which will have completely reclining seats, a VIP lounge and other luxury options. “It will be the first wi-fi ticketing-enabled multiplex in the city and people can book tickets anywhere inside the mall,” said Man Mohan Bagree, manager (commercial & marketing), South City Projects.

The mall will also have two mini anchors — Starmark, across 20,000 sq ft, and Time Zone, taking up 14,000 sq ft — besides a clutch of “new entrant” brands. “This is the first time that organised zoning has been done in a retail mall in Calcutta heeding the science of shopping,” said Mohta.

Retail space specialists Bentel of South Africa, which has worked on the concept design created by city architect Dulal Mukherjee, has anchored the zoning initiative. “They have organised the circulation pattern inside the mall, segregated pedestrian and vehicular traffic on the peripheries and done clustering of retailers in such a manner that each floor has optimum footfall,” Khetawat pointed out.

Bentel also did a total rejig of the initial parking plan, which has finally led to the multi-level parking bays, with arms connecting to every retail level. “It means you can get out of the movie after the night show at two in the morning and get right into your car parked at that very level and drive off,” smiled Bagree.

The gigantic five-level mall (basement plus ground plus three) has a stadium feel with a 15,000-sq-ft central atrium, and will be supported by a large food court, besides a number of speciality F&B options, the management promised.