Then : Virender Sehwag at the outlet in October 2007

Now : The shutters are down. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

The downturn has claimed a high-heeled retail scalp in town: the 3,500-sq ft flagship Adidas lifestyle store on Camac Street that had opened in the midst of a retail boom less than two years ago. Many more shop stops are teetering on the brink of closure, add retailers.

The German sportswear brand’s outlet, which downed shutters because the franchisee was weighed down by the burden of “irrationally high” rentals, is the city’s second big-ticket casualty after The Gariahaat Mall ditched retail for office space.

Bangalore-based Primus, the franchisee of the Adidas lifestyle store on Camac Street, had apparently sought a 25 per cent reduction in rent but the landlord didn’t play ball. A source said the rent burden, coupled with poor footfall, had made the business “non-viable”.

“Prime high-street locations are at a premium in Calcutta and many property owners are still not keen to roll back rentals. This is making life difficult for retailers. The Adidas flagship store shutting down does send out very negative signals,” said Kamal Jain, the city-based franchisee of Adidas and Benetton.

Primus has also closed its Adidas, Nike, Levi’s and Reebok factory outlets on VIP Road. The Adidas store in Mani Square has been temporarily shut, pending negotiations on rentals with the mall management.

Another large-format retail address — Khadim’s 28,000-sq ft departmental store Egaro, in Bhowanipore — is on the brink of closure.

“We tried our hand at multi-category retail after our success in shoes, but footfalls are not as expected. We might have to wind up (this business) soon,” admitted Suman Roy Burman, president of Khadim’s.

The flagship store of the chain has been on an extended “up to 75 per cent” sale.

British retailer Marks & Spencer and its allied brands — The Body Shop, Guess, Next and Accessorise — are also bleeding, both at Avani Heights near the Exide crossing and in South City Mall.

Astral Heights on Gurusaday Road dared to open shop in the middle of the meltdown and has hardly had any footfall from Day One. It could be the next big scalp, warn retail watchers.

“This is a period of rationalisation and consolidation,” said Sumantra Banerjee, who heads the retail group of RPG Enterprises, owners of the Spencer’s brand. Spencer’s has also taken a hit, especially with its large-format stores in Mani Square and Gariahat.

E-mall, the mart on CR Avenue that was touted as the gizmo freak’s playground, is feeling the pinch. Depot, the stationery and gifts store, has shut shop, as has the Kodak outlet.

“We are redoing the Depot space. We will open Furniture Bazar there,” said Sandeep Marwaha of the Future Group.

Vijoy Purohit, the manager of E-mall, put up a brave front. “Our footfall target is 5,000 and the average is 2,000-2,500. I won’t say that the downturn hasn’t affected us but only the sale of high-end products has declined.”