The much awaited Mahila Mall, the first ever mall run by women, will be launched by mid-October, as the promoters, Kozhikode Corporation Kudumbashree CDS is trying to recover from the delay caused by the recent flood.
The administrative office of the mall was opened on Wednesday to speed up the activities and to prepare the mall for opening by the Chief Minister next month. The 35,000 sqft mall will have 79 shops in four floors, most of which have already been occupied by women entrepreneurs, not just from Kudumbashree.
“The flood had put a damper on our plans to open the mall. Our volunteers and members were involved in flood relief activities to the core and it will take us and the society some time to recover from the disaster that stuck us”, Kudumbashree Project Officer M.V. Ramsy Ismail had earlier explained the delay. Now, with just some electric work and a total clean-up pending, the Unity Group, that runs the mall, is hopeful of getting it ready by the end of the month.
“We cannot delay it further as too much is at stake. The stock brought for the various outlets will go waste if delayed”, Mr. Ismail said.
The mall will house all kinds of enterprises such as supermarket, food court, children’s park, spa, beauty parlour, women’s bank, fancy stores, textiles and ready-mades, boutiques, footwear, dry cleaning, car washing, opticals, handicrafts, baby care, home appliances and book stall. Besides, there will be conference rooms, training centres and underground car parking facility. The Kudumbashree Micro Bazaar, which will be a permanent outlet for Kudumbashree products, will be set up on the premises of the mall. A car wash facility, ATMs and CDMs will be part of the mall.
The ground floor of the mall is being occupied by brand outlets and Cafe Sree, Kudumbashree’s exclusive culinary outlet while the first, second and third floors will have shops by women entrepreneurs of the district. The fourth and fifth floors will house the office of the Kerala State Women’s Development Corporation, Kudumbashree training centres and a food court besides the play area.
