Malls turning community centres to woo customers!!!

If you're in no mood to wrestle with the traffic to get to a mall, hop on their free bus or better still, have them send you a cab. If your grandmother's knees aren't able to keep up with your shopping frenzy, get a golf cart to ferry her around for free. As for your children, they will be looked after at the play centre.

"Malls are going the extra mile to cater to every need of their customers. Malls today are going beyond being shopping and entertainment centres and are becoming community centres," says Kishore Bhatija, chief executive of InOrbit Malls.

People living around the In-Orbit Malls in Mumbai, can attend free workshops on varied interests like self defence, calligraphy or fruit carving, or showcase their talents in performing arts or even take a brisk morning walk. "Green spaces are reducing in cities so we decided to open our malls at 6.30 am so that people can come in for a walk. Our parking and toilets are also functional at this time," says Bhatija, who has introduced a free bus service to pick up and drop customers in and around Navi Mumbai for their Vashi Mall and plans to roll this out to their other malls too.

Chennai's Abirami Mall offers a pick-up and drop service to customers. "We try to reach people as soon as we can, so there is no fixed notice that anyone has to give us," says Abirami Ramanathan, managing director of Abirami Mall. The tariff for the Tata Indica chauffeur service, he says, is less than the standard call taxi rates of around Rs 15 per km. On an average, at least 40 to 50 people call for cab services.

Another Chennai mall, Citi Centre , offers valet parking and an air conditioned waiting area for customers' chauffeurs with water, magazines and toilets.

The city's largest mall Express Avenue will soon have golf carts to ferry senior citizens and the disabled around, nursing rooms for mothers and hobby centres for children. Ampa Sky Walk Mall has touch screen booths and roaming may-ihelp-you guides to guide customers.

The recent slowdown in the economy led to a slump in the retail sector, which saw mall owners revising their product offerings and including several value added services for shoppers.

Don't you think these malls are going too far to create a better experience for the customer. what are your views on this...