Atul Ruia and Shishir Shrivastava of Phoenix Mills talk about expansion plans, digital integration in retail, catching up on pre-pandemic sales, and more
Atul Ruia, chairman and Shishir Shrivastava, managing director of The Phoenix Mills Limited; Image: Mayur D Bhatt for Forbes India
Phoenix Mills opened Palladium mall in Ahmedabad on February 25, in a joint venture with real estate developers B Safal Group. This is Gujarat’s first luxurious mall. In an exclusive conversation with Forbes India, Atul Ruia, chairman and Shishir Shrivastava, managing director of The Phoenix Mills Limited, talk about their expansion plans and their target to reach 14 million square feet by 2026. They discuss how the next quarter looks like for the company. Edited excerpts:
Q. Why did it take so long for you to enter Gujarat?
Atul: It didn't take long. When we were ready for Gujarat, we tried our best to come. And then we came.
Shishir: We actively started our acquisition search sometime in 2018. And we were fortunate to collaborate with real estate developers B Safal Group, very early on in our search. That is how we entered into a 50-50 partnership. This mall was in the in the making for almost four years, and we finally opened it up on February 25.
Q. Has the current economic volatility shown its effects on customer footfalls and consumption pattern?