City malls record soaring festive sales before Puja

Kolkata: With Durga Puja barely two weeks away, malls across the city are witnessing record-breaking sales and footfall, setting the stage for what is expected to be their best festive season ever.

At South City Mall, executive director Amit Kumar said the festive fervour has been palpable since August. “From August itself, we have seen footfalls and sales soar to new highs, with the last few weeks crossing all previous records. Our anchor partners like Pantaloons and Shoppers Stop have shared remarkable double-digit growth and the buzz around fresh festive collections has been overwhelming,” he said.

The mall has also expanded its brand mix this year, with Celio, Skechers, Nykaa, Bluestone, Fizzy Goblet and Lovechild by Masaba joining the line-up. “Durga Puja is as much about shopping and gifting as it is about devotion and we are preparing to welcome visitors not just from Kolkata but from across Bengal and neighbouring states. We are confident of achieving the highest sales in our history this festive season,” Kumar added.

At Acropolis Mall, corporate general manager – retail and hospitality of Merlin Group, Subhadip Basu, said that though the festive peak is yet to come, the response has already been highly impressive. “We are just two weeks away from Durga Puja and barely a week from Mahalaya. The shopping fervour picked up last week, and we expect the excitement to intensify in the days ahead,” he said.

Footfall at the mall has grown by 10 per cent compared to 2023 and by 5 per cent over last year, while retailers have recorded double-digit sales growth. The fine and luxury jewellery segment with brands such as CaratLane, Bluestone and Mia by Tanishq posted a 24.79 per cent growth. Footwear, aided by global leader Adidas, saw a 20 per cent rise, while apparel brands, including Shoppers Stop, Levi’s, Celio, Biba, W and Aurelia together grew by 22 per cent.

Entertainment emerged the standout category, with Timezone and Cinepolis clocking 71 per cent growth. Cafés registered a 33.47 per cent rise. Parking bays for 150 two-wheelers and 400 four-wheelers remained full despite cloudy weather, underscoring the shopping frenzy. Basu said the ongoing ‘Shopping pe Topping 4.0’ festive campaign has drawn a huge response, with customers rushing to redeem trolley bags and across bags on purchases of Rs 15,000 and above.