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Luxury settles on high street in India

By FashionUnited

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Fashion

Giving a twist to the Indian retail scenario, luxury labels are now scouting for potential high-street destinations rather than retail spaces at heritage hotels to launch new outlets. Indeed, India lacks hi-street destinations like New York's

Fifth Avenue and Madison Avenue or London’s Bond Street, so they have to go an extra mile to look for a retail place that would attract enough eye-balls. The reason experts point out is the fewer number of high-end malls and low sales potential coupled with limited space at five-star hotels.

After
pulling shutters on a seven-year old store at The Oberoi, New Delhi, French fashion giant Louis Vuitton unveiled its first high-street boutique in India at the Khader Nawaz Khan (KNK) Road in Chennai, two months ago. Its a shopping destination lined with some of the swankiest stores. Even ‘Bergamo’, which houses the LV store in Chennai will soon have exclusive outlets of Bottega Venetta, Cartier watches and Jimmy Choo. No wonder, high-street destinations are in the spotlight with rentals moving north. For instance, to book a space on KNK Road, one needs to shell out around 250 per sq. ft. per month as compared to 150 per sq. ft. three years ago.

Another sought after location is South Mumbai’s Horniman Circle. Many lifestyle labels are vying to capture space at this location. While Hermes has a store there -- its third in India -- the buzz is Christian Louboutin too will open its store in the area. Rentals have shot up dramatically in the last two years from 250 per sq. ft to 400 per sq. ft.

Delhi is not far behind. Close to Delhi Airport’s Terminal 3 is Aerocity, a development that’s a mix of hotels, offices, malls and convention centres, it is expected to emerge as a huge draw from luxury shoppers once it’s up and running. Bharti is developing a 1.5 million sq. ft. integrated office and retail project, Bharti’s Worldmark, that’s expected to be operational in the next six to nine months. And in Noida, another real estate developer, 3Cs, is developing a luxury arcade in a premium mixed use property called Delhi One.

First Mumbai offered brands an option of luxury malls, when High Street Phoenix built The Palladium in Lower Parel. Later, Vijay Mallya came up with the UB City in Bangalore and DLF built the Emporia in South Delhi. DLF is now replicating that success with a luxury mall in Gurgaon and another one in Chanakyapuri.

As per real estate consulting firm Cushman & Wakefield, five-star hotels across cities such as Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore account for as much as 80-90 per cent of luxury retail space in the country. Footfalls have, however, been lower in hotels than in malls because most guests at hotels shop overseas. While malls and standalone luxury outlets have been a comparatively bigger draw.
Christian Louboutin
Hermès
Louis Vuitton