Our Retail Analyst present at the Opening of Pantaloon Retail’s Central format at Oberoi Mall, Goregaon (East), Mumbai was able to capture glimpse of Kishore Biyani, at the opening of Central. Apart from Goregaon, Mumbai, Future Group also opened Central in Gurgaon /Delhi NCR and another one in Vashi taking its presence to 7 cities now.
Central is typically spread over an area of c100,000 sq ft spanning 3-4 levels. Cosmetics / ladies apparel are typically on the ground level, with a food bazaar and even restaurants / pubs on the top levels, and gents apparel, home furnishings etc in the middle. Most Centrals are standalone buildings but where space is not available, they may be within malls.
Centrals are generally situated within city centers and capture the highest share of wallet compared to other department store formats.