Wholesalers in India will soon have a mall of their own.

Future Group, a player in India’s organised retail sector, is to go beyond traditional retail with a plan to roll out malls targeted at wholesalers.

Kishore Biyani, CEO of Future Group and MD of Pantaloon Retail, said the first such mall will open in Bangalore later this year. The mall, to be called World Market, will enable wholesalers to own a space ranging from 200 to 500 sqft.

“Our aim is to create a modern and a non-intimidating environment for the wholesale segment with a quintessential Indian lilt to it,” said Sumit Dabriwala, MD of the group’s real estate arm Future Market Networks.

“Real estate developers have built infrastructure only for organised retail so far.”

“This is an initiative to provide opportunities for expansion of existing wholesale markets within close proximity of traditional warehousing facilities in cities,” Dabriwala said.

“We believe that we can roll out eight to 10 such markets in India quickly.”

The next locations for World Market are planned in Ahmedabad and Kolkata.

Dabriwala said that Future Group plans to rebrand The Orchid City Centre Mall, its owned mall in Mumbai, into World Market.

The World Market malls will be developed by Sattva Group, a real estate developer, with whom Future Market Networks has an alliance.

World Market malls are designed to be on the lines of wholesale markets Yiwu in China and Dragon Mart in Dubai.

GB