Prozone Intu Properties is all set to launch its mall in the City, the second in the country. In an exclusive chat with the Covaipost.com, Company Managing Director Nikhil Chathurvedi elaborates on the plans and what made him choose Coimbatore.

Prozone group is launching its first mall in Tamil Nadu and the second in India. Why Coimbatore and what are your expectations?

Coimbatore is the Manchester of the South. Our biggest centre is in Manchester in the UK. It’s in Trafford and about 2 million sqft. We wanted to be in the `Manchester of India’ as well, so that’s our first exiting point. Second, we wanted to bring world class infrastructure to a student city. I think it will benefit the city in a very large way. I’m sure it will work positively for all of us.

What does Prozone offer people of Coimbatore, what facilities do you have?

The mall has 126 shops, including a food court. The INOX multiplex will have nine screens with 2,500 seating capacity. The mall has 5 million sqft retail area alone. The customer area is about 80,000 sqft. It will be a wonderful customer experience. The parking area is more than half a million sqft. In terms of infrastructure, we would claim that we would be one of the best the city has ever seen. We hope that in future, we would be able to upgrade according to changing times. A great customer experience is our promise.

The mall is ground + 1, spread over a space of 5 million sqft, unlike others which are multi level. Why such a design?

Normally, if there are hundred customers in the ground floor, fifty will go to first, 25 to second and so on. So, marginal utility of retail space keeps reducing as it keeps going higher. So customer experience keeps reducing. And normally, the food courts and multiplex are placed at higher levels, but that affects the middle level. So we have just two levels to offer a superior customer experience. Moreover, most malls in Europe and Americas are just two levels.

This is going to be INOX first centre in Coimbatore. Recently there were protests in Tamil Nadu regarding GST pricing. What is your view on it?

We love the experience INOX offers. We preferred INOX because they offer customers a very superior experience. And about GST, it is just a phase. India will get used to it. Indian entrepreneurs are resilient and they will manage with GST.

How disable-friendly is this mall?

This mall is very disable-friendly. They will have access to every corner of the mall, including multiplex and toilets in wheel chairs which are available at gates. Also, most of the shops are just one floor. So they wouldn’t need to get off the chair to access a different level.

What are your future plans in Coimbatore?

We do have space available, our expansion plans will depend on demand.