Entertainment options beyond the mall

Rediff News reports that Indians are looking beyond the malls for entertainment. Part of the mall boom has taken place because of the newness of the concept and as a one-stop-shop that provided something for the entire family to do together. Well, malls now have competition on this front. A new type of 'integrated leisure complexes' or ILCs are coming up that will offer the entire family a place to relax and unwind for a few hours or the entire weekend.

"There is a need for convergence of various kinds of entertainment and leisure elements for different members of a family," says Gupta. Up until now, we have had malls with multiplexes. Most of these are shopping -- not leisure -- oriented. "The need today is to have separate zones for different segments."

According to Gupta, an ILC would typically have a mix of leisure, entertainment, food and beverage as well as intellectually stimulating options such as art or reading galleries, informal clubs and maybe very sophisticated shops. The scale here will be tipped towards the leisure and entertainment options.

These would be on the outskirts of the city (prohibitive land cost within the city makes such large projects unviable). The advantages of these, explains Gupta, is that they will tap into the local public and create a new market. They can, in the long run, also become a prominent feature of a city, increasing its appeal as a destination.