Men behind the malls
Men behind the malls

Square Feet Management, acclaimed as the first mall advisory company in India is headed by Sushil Dungarwal. Being in the retail / realty sector for over two decades, Dungarwal decided to set-up a specialised company that will focus on Mall Development, Mall Marketing and Mall Management. In an interaction with Retailer, the proficient personal talks about some facts of realty and retail.  

Sharmila Das (SD): What inspired you to form Square Feet Management Pvt Ltd?  
Sushil Dungarwal (SD):
Square feet Management has been set-up with a clear objective of advising the Mall developers as an “in-house advisory team”, which means we are not a Consulting firm, but an advisory team that works on the feasibility and functionality of the project. We are an end to end “Mall Concept management company” with focus on Retail and Real Estate. We manage any Retail/Realty (Mall) venture right from conceptualisation, implementation and to operations. We work in tandem with the mall developers to set up successful malls. We act as an insider than an outsider, and take up the virtual ownership of the project, with a great sense of accountability. Currently as there is no player in this domain and that has prompted us to grab the opportunity. Looking at the ways the mall business has changed in the last couple of years, we see a great demand for companies like ours.  

SD: How has been Square Feet Management contributing to the very need of retailers and real estate companies? What kind of services you offer for them? 
SD:
Our core objective has been to “Help” the developers create a better mall destination and at the same time keep the retailer in mind. Since we have the background of being a retailer and mall developer, we understand both sides of the table very well. This helps us understand both the perspectives very closely, and motivates us in creating better malls.  
 
SD: How real estate developers are sensitive to the demands of retailers, in terms of revenue sharing? 
SD:
Some of them understand this very well and are open to this, but there is a need for greater transparency. Mall Developers are worried about the authenticity of the top line figures shared by the retailers, as many of them are unreal. At the same time, many mall owners have sold there property to small investors, who are not willing to look at this concept, they are purely interested in the rent. Having said that, revenue sharing is going to be the ideal model in future, provided both the Mall developers and retailers bring in the transparency and professionalism in their transactions.  

SD: If retailers take the initiative to develop retail spaces, will it be challenging to the real estate developers whose core business lies into this segment? 
SD:
This is a hypothetical one, but it is what you develop is going to be more important than who developed it.  

SD: How do you assess the requirement of your clients and what are the basic parameters you take into consideration before providing solutions to them?  
SD:
Most of our current clients are first time entrants in the segment; hence we are very cautious about the results. However, we do a total research on the project, before convincing our clients.  

SD: You see yourself as a co-owner of the concept. Could you please elaborate on the term “concept”?  
SD:
Basically, most of our projects are green-field projects. We hand-hold the mall developer on every stage and most of the time we take all vital decisions, that might impact the mall in the long run. We manage the entire mall development as a co-owner. We are probably the only advisory company which comes with a penalty clause for not achieving what we have envisaged at the beginning of the project. We firmly believe that if the mall is conceptualised and positioned well, every retailer would like to be there. and that is what we help the developer to do “create Better Malls”!!! One of the unique services that we offer to our clients is assisting on every nitty gritty of mall development and management, and we call them as a whole “Concept”. 
 

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