First mall of the national capital, Ansal Plaza, gets a makeover
Delhi’s first mall, Ansal Plaza has got a makeover and is set to re-launch by the first week of December. Originally established in 1999, the mall has been renovated and re-positioned as Delhi’s one-stop premium lifestyle destination with a focus on food and sports under the new brand tagline, “Ansal Plaza: Experience Zest”.
In the renovated mall people will be able to shop from 16 new brands. It will also feature two level sports store: Decathlon, The Sky-High terrace loungecum-restaurant, The Arena which is a premium chain of night-clubs and variety of world cuisine.
With bigger and better malls mushrooming in the city, many earlier existing malls are facing a downward slope. In 2015, the primary brand Shoppers Stop at Ansal Plaza, decided to vacate forcing a substantial portion of the mall to remain vacant which eventually decreased the footfall. “We want to set the USP of the mall as premium lifestyle destination rather than just a mall. At the area vacated by Shoppers Stop and other space which was not in use, we decided to use it in such a way that would reposition the mall and have a connect with the youth. Here we have roped in Decathlon and there is a food court now,” says Amit Phull, Head — Retail, Ansal API.
He says, “Our strategic location in the heart of South Delhi with vast open spaces and an open amphitheater gives us an unparalleled advantage and with the new repositioning as ultimate lifestyle, sports and F&B hub, we’re targeting approx. 25,000 visitors on weekends in the new avatar of Ansal Plaza.”
The renovated Ansal Plaza spread across 1.78 lakh sq. ft of retail, food and entertainment space with an out- door open Amphitheatre is a landmark lifestyle destination which provides an interesting example of Public-Private Partnership due to its presence at HUDCO Place, Khel Gaon.
Announcing the re-launch, Mr Pranav Ansal, Vice Chairman, Ansal API Ltd. said “Ansal Plaza has been associated not only with every Delhite’s memories but also has a strong emotional connect across North India and we hope to re-create these wonderful experiences with a new and modern repositioning as a lifestyle destination helping the current generation create their share of memories at Ansal Plaza. We’ve identified niches which are currently lacking in the Malls in and around Delhi and have repositioned Ansal Plaza to cater to this need segment of a sports, food destination and lifestyle hub.”
The Ansal Group is looking at Ansal Plaza to set the pace for the revival of its portfolio of 9 existing Malls spread across 5different states within North India viz Rajasthan Punjab, Haryana, Delhi-NCR and Uttar Pradesh.
Taking the mall experience to a new high the Ansal Plaza has plans to in- troduce an innovative Ansal Plaza app to facilitate reservations at its hi-end restaurants and lounges. Providing easy solutions to Delhi’s car parking problem at public places, the new Ansal Plaza management shall introduce a special parking app, automated parking facility, exclusive valet service and a dedicated pink parking zone for women. The Amphitheater, one of the key attractions of Ansal Plaza will host gala musical evenings and high profile fashion shows. Grand events and food festivals and innovative kids’ and sports camps are in the future plans of the Mall Authorities and the prominent brands and outlets. Ansal Plaza’s lush green lawns, a disabled-friendly environment, state of the art security management service, surveillance systems and backend support systems will all make it one of the safest malls in the city for everyone.