A shopping mall in South Africa became a hot destination since it was located next to a cricket stadium where Hansie Cronje used to impart lessons and, willy-nilly, people congregated.

In Australia, where surfing is big, a mall developer put up two giant wave pools outside his property, and his footfall soared.

What will the Indian mall format do to sustain itself in spite of the recent churn in the organised sector?

A plenary on mall management will be the showpiece session at the fourth Retail Summit (July 28-29) organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in Calcutta. The two-day conclave, drawing leading retailers from across the country, will focus on key issues necessary for the growth of the retail sector, and project the East’s “huge potential”.

Bringing in the footfall should be the joint responsibility of the mall developer and the anchor, feels Forum managing director Rahul Saraf, one of the panelists of the plenary.

“The objective is to create as complete a shopping basket as possible, and competing anchors are welcome if they provide width to the product range without sacrificing depth,” Saraf points out.

The session, to be chaired by Anuj Puri of Chesterton Meghraj Consultants Pvt Ltd, will debate issues like should retail space be sold or leased, choosing the right combination, how to survive in high-street locations and B-class towns, methods of boosting footfall, and infrastructure and facility management for retail.

Among others on the panel will be Harsh Neotia, Ajay Khanna of DLF, Pranav Ansal of Ansal Properties and Amitabh Taneja, director, International Council of Shopping Centres, India. Kurush Grant, chairman, services sector sub-committee, CII Eastern Region, will steer the inaugural session ‘Emerging trends in retail’.

State urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya will be the chief guest at a special plenary on Day One, to be attended by CII Eastern Region chairman B. Muthuraman and Pantaloons boss Kishore Biyani, among others. Financial appraisal & risk management; profitability & co-existence; Calcutta, a retail hub; retail management and retailing entertainment will be the topics for the other plenary sessions.

“Malls have a gestation period of two to three years from conceptualisation to delivery. Hence, developers and anchors must keep abreast with trends five years down the line and follow basic hygiene to make the product a success,” observes Sumit Dabriwal, convener, core group for retail, CII Eastern Region.

Dabriwal is confident there's still “a lot of head-room” in Calcutta for the new entrants.