B'luru's MG Rd tops list of 30 high street spots in India

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Bangaluru's MG Road has been ranked first in the list of top 30 high streets in India, followed by Somajiguda in Hyderabad and Linking Road in Mumbai, according to Knight Frank, global real estate consultants. South Extension (Part 1 and Part 2) in Delhi is at fourth position. The ranking is based on parameters that determine the quality of experience high streets provide to customers.

"Bengaluru has the best of high streets that provide a significantly better shopping experience with 4 of its markets making it to the top 10 list," a Knight Frank India report pointed out. The consulting company has conducted a primary survey of 30 high street locations in eight major markets of India and released a report 'Think India Think Retail 2023 - High Street Real Estate Outlook'.

The ranking is based on five parameters -- parking, public transport, store visibility, spending quotient and average trading density. Kolkata's Park Street and Camac Street are at the fifth position, followed by Chennai's Anna Nagar, Bengaluru's Commercial Street, Noida's Sector 18 Market, Bengaluru's Brigade Road and Bengaluru's Church Street. The top ten high streets are those that are convenient in terms of access, parking facilities and with a varied assortment of retailers. The layout and master planning of the high street define the visibility.

Inward looking markets like Khan Market (Delhi) and DLF Galleria (Gurugram) scored very low, whereas markets aligned along the access road like MG Road (Bengaluru), Somajiguda (Hyderabad), Linking Road (Mumbai), Anna Nagar, Park Street and Camac Street (Kolkata) scored high on the list, the consultant said. Total high street retail stock is 13.2 million square feet spread across 4,875 retail stores in the top eight markets. Out of this, 5.7 million square feet is modern retail and 7.5 million square feet is non-modern retail.

After careful assessment of the average trading densities in top 10 retailer categories across 30 high streets, Knight Frank said the potential consumption in the high streets is derived at nearly USD 2 billion for FY 2023-24. This represents 19 per cent of the potential consumption of USD 11 billion projected for operational shopping mall stock in FY 2023-24.

Shishir Baijal, Chairman and Managing Director at Knight Frank India said, “Retail is a highly competitive business and, more recently with the advent of malls, is also closely related to the overall customer experience."