Makeover for Future Group's seamless mall 'Central'

05 Sep '12

2 min read

Future Group-owned India’s first seamless mall ‘Central’ is going through a major makeover. Launched in 2004, the popular shopping destination will soon be revamped into a chain of fashion departmental stores selling fashion apparels from leading national and international brands.

The Marketing Head of ‘Central’ and ‘Brand Factory’, Mr. Jitendranath Patri, in an interview with fibre2fashion, explained the reasons for revamp of the store model. He says, “Malls have mushroomed all over the country and they offer consumers very diverse experiences. Malls also require large spaces to operate and operating in large spaces in metros like Mumbai is no longer feasible.”

“Central is patronized for its brands and other offerings. Thus, after considering all these factors the creative agency Lowe Lintas, worked on the positioning and developed the brand new idea of turning it into a fashion departmental store,” he continues.

When quizzed about how different the new format will be from the set ups of competitors like ‘Lifestyle’ and ‘Shoppers Stop’, he replies, “Central will chart its own course on its way to becoming a fashion destination. There would be a common collection of brands and some exclusives to each format.”

The Marketing Head informed that with the shift in positioning, Central will still continue to offer the consumer brands which are high on fashion and style. “If the need to introduce a new brand arises, then the decision and implementation will happen accordingly. However, the primary focus will be on womenswear since women respond much faster to changes in trends and styles,” he avers.

“At the new format, style and fashion will be made affordable so that it does not remain an exclusive privilege and Central is looking forward to service a wider audience,” he adds.

Central currently operates 22 stores spread across 12 cities throughout India. Bangalore, Pune and Mumbai have 4 stores each, while Ahmedabad, Surat, Baroda, Gurgaon, Raipur, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Vishakhapatnam and Nasik have single stores.

“By January 2013, five additional Centrals will be opened in various places,” says Mr. Patri.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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