Mall Maal?

An interesting little essay in Outlook on the burgeoning mall culture that we’re experiencing.

The writer has presented some interesting views, including the inherent paradox of energy-guzzling malls mushrooming in the heart of cities reeling under power shortage. Including the interesting view below:

But that’s precisely the source of the mall’s appeal to most Indians. We flock to these self-contained, climate-controlled bubbles because they shut out the poverty-stricken people that we’d otherwise encounter in the bazaar. This eagerness to clamp on blinkers and to wilfully exclude the bulk of our fellow citizens has disquieting implications for a participatory political system. We’ve allowed ourselves to believe the facile contention that shopping is the ultimate form of democracy, failing to recognise that a democracy allows us through the door simply because we exist, not because we buy our way in.

While I’m not able to vehemently argue this, the author seems to have missed out on a couple of important aspects that the mall/supermarket brings to bear; first, and most important to me, is the consistent quality that I expect. I’ve too many memories of unpredictable or downright unacceptable quality that I’ve got from the local grocers, particularly in the case of staples - stones in dal, second-grade rice, foaming sugar….. mites, droppings, et al. Buying even the house-brand from a supermarket has almost eliminated this problem.

The second has to do with brand-choice in a single location. We haven’t reached the bewildering variety that you encounter on Western shelves, so I still appreciate the chance to stroll around, check options, scrutinize the expiry dates and make my choice.

The locality stores have a powerful advantage over the supermarket - they have a face-to-face relationship with me. The smarter ones are building on this and thriving despite the malls. Others, located near residential densities thrive on the ‘emergency requirement’ situations, and the convenience of home-delivery.

So while the West may have reached the stage of ‘vibrant local markets’ a while ago and hence dispute the value of malls, we still have a long way to go in retailing. And there’s still ample room for quality and consistency oriented ’small-boxes’.

Read the full article on Outlook online.