Khan Market is losing its luster? Exit Hamless, Vero Moda, Mac | Tech Reddy

Swish Khan Market High Street is increasingly becoming a destination for specialty product lines for food and beverage service providers such as restaurants and coffee shops and other retailers.

NEW DELHI – Many foreign retailers are leaving Khan Market, once a coveted retail destination for global brands. Brands say the high rents at Khan Market – one of India’s toniest high streets – do not support the sales they generate there.

Vero Moda Khan has exited the market. beauty store MAC and toy retailer Hamless over the past few months.

“Khan Market is losing (its) luster due to high rents,” said a top executive of one of the brands that left Khan Market. “Premium brands are not making money because of high rents.”

A top executive at a global brand who has left said the swish location is increasingly becoming a destination for food and beverage service providers such as restaurants and coffee shops and other retailers with specialty product lines. For example, Costa Coffee is preparing to open an outlet there

“The footfall for clothing is quite low. Also, rents have become highly unsustainable,” the top executive said on condition of anonymity. “So (it) doesn’t make sense to run high street retail for clothing (there).”

Just before the Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2019, property consultancy Cushman & Wakefield set up
Delhi’s upscale Khan Market ranks as the 20th most expensive retail destination in the world in its report ‘Main Street Across the World 2019’.

Pankaj Renjhen, joint managing director of consultancy Anarak Retail, said various iconic high streets like New Delhi’s Khan Market and Mumbai’s Nariman Point have “plateaued” over the years, prompting brands to seek greener pastures.

“Productivity in this market cannot exceed a point. Their sales have plateaued and their catchment is not going to grow. Rather, they are moving to the suburbs,” he said. “Hence, retailers are moving to other areas that will give them a better return on investment such as Galleria Market in Gurgaon or Bandra in Mumbai.”

Although Gurgaon’s Khan Market (Rs 700-1,000 per sq ft per month) and Galleria Market (Rs 500-1,000 per sq ft per month) are comparable, the latter offers better “opportunities” for retailers, Renzhen said. -Wide catchment.

But not everyone is leaving Khan Market. UK-based Marks & Spencer said it will be located on South Delhi’s high street.

“The M&S Khan Market store remains open to our customers and there are no plans to close the store,” an M&S spokesperson said. “With our fit-for-the-future program, we remain committed to the Indian market as we continue to invest in modernizing our current store estate and plan to open approximately six new stores in the next six months (in the country).”