Since the dawn of the organized retail revolution in India, malls have been found to be perfect destinations for shopping, eating and entertainment; in short, `Shoppertainment'. However, lately, mall developers have been toying with the idea of such malls where office accommodation and hotel services are being provided apart from the above-mentioned services. Such malls have been termed as `mixed-use malls'. Also, efforts are on to develop open malls that double up as picnic spots for customers. These are aimed at offering more variety to customers, better parking facilities and more exciting shopping experience. Looking at these developments, it can be safely said that innovation will drive the growth and sustainability of malls in India.

The Indian retail sector is presently experiencing exponen- tial growth and has been reported as one of the top five fastest- growing retail destinations globally. According to industry estimates, the industry is set to grow from $330 bn in 2007 to $427 bn by 2010 and further to $637 bn by 2015. The share of modern retail in the total retail market is expected to increase to 22% by 2010. It has been observed that with the ongoing retail boom, retail malls are growing at a blistering pace. Mall space that was one million sq ft in 2002 is estimated to be 60 million sq ft by end-2008. The number of malls in India, which is presently 300, is expected to be 600 by 2010. It is expected that several malls will be coming up in the Tier II and Tier III cities of the country along with the metro cities.

Lately, two significant trends have been observed in the mall arena which are fast catching the imagination of mall developers, retailers and shoppers. There are a lot of malls in India that are metamorphosing into providing not just wholesome shopping experience but also accommodating offices and hotels. Simultaneously, many new malls are being developed around this concept by some of the leading mall developers of the country. They are also coming up with another idea called `Open malls' that are supposed to provide value-added `high-street' shopping experience to customers. These developments are expected to alter the shopping experience at malls and make customer visits at malls lot more pleasurable and substantial.

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