Knight Frank has ranked the top 30 high streets in India based on their quality of experience provided to customers. MG Road in Bengaluru came out on top, with Somajiguda in Hyderabad taking the second spot. Linking Road in Mumbai and South Extension (Part 1 and Part 2) in Delhi came in third and fourth respectively. The ranking is based on parameters such as parking, public transport, store visibility, spending quotient and average trading density. Kolkata’s Park Street and Camac Street are at fifth place, followed by Chennai’s Anna Nagar, Bengaluru’s Commercial Street, Noida’s Sector 18 Market, Bengaluru’s Brigade Road and Bengaluru’s Church Street.
Hyderabad has a total retail area of 18 lakh sq. ft, including a modern retail area of 10 lakh sq. ft. The prominent high streets in the city include Jubilee Hills, Banjara Hills, Somajiguda, Ameerpet and Gachibowli where the monthly average rent per sq. ft ranges from Rs 110-230. Shishir Baijal, CMD at Knight Frank India, said that the outlook for the city retail market is promising with more malls coming up. He also said that the average per square metre revenues of high streets will be significantly higher than those of malls in FY 2023-24.
The consultant expects that high streets will provide a good retail experience to customers and see a revival even as other formats of retail continue to thrive. Bengaluru has the best high streets providing a better shopping experience with four of its markets making it to the top 10 list. 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 total high street retail stock is 13.2 million sq. ft spread across 4,875 retail stores in the top eight markets. Out of this, 5.7 million sq. ft is modern retail and 7.5 million sq. ft is non-modern retail. The potential consumption in the high streets is estimated at nearly $2 billion for FY 2023-24, representing 19% of the potential consumption of $11 billion projected for operational shopping mall stock in FY 2023-24.
