Of No Fixed Address

But the Palladium isn’t the answer this city is looking for. What Mumbai has needed for the last several years is a fabulous retail space for its high-end labels. When European companies like Louis Vuitton first opened in Mumbai,they were sure the city would change its shopping-scape in a handful of years. But they and their friends remain waiting. Insufficient physical space in an overcrowded city is only one half of the answer,the other half is soaring real-estate prices.

Five-star hotels seemed the best bet. But after the Taj Mahal hotel was held hostage by terrorists in November 2008,the hotel has had to turn itself into a fortress. Walk-in customers and browsers are rare. In fact,all roads that lead to the hotel are barricaded,only nearby residents are permitted to drive through after showing a residential-entry pass. Going to the Taj (or anywhere close to it) is a traffic nightmare and all businesses within,or close to it,are waning. Ask any of the India representatives of luxury labels in Mumbai,and they will tell you,off the record,that the Taj is now a very bad idea.

In came Palladium,a swanky shopping haven in the middle of Mumbai,arguably in the most crowded road in the metro. The drive there is far from easy from anywhere else in Mumbai but,yes,the Palladium is self-sustaining. Its location,amid the hustle-bustle of Phoenix Mills,ensures there are nice restaurants,a movie multiplex and ample parking at hand.

But it’s still far from the “luxury experience” the big brands keep singing about. Palladium,at best,is just a half-decent mall. It isn’t a luxury address like Sloane Street or Fifth Avenue. Etro,Burberry and Zara share the same floor here,and it’s the last one that makes up its footfall. There are malls like Dubai’s Mall of the Emirates,where the luxe labels have a separate space dedicated to them,or department stores like Selfridges in London or Bloomingdale’s in New York,where high-end goodies are on one floor and high-street labels on another.

Nothing in Mumbai yet compares to Delhi’s DLF Emporio in its scale or aura or even Bangalore’s UB City in its creation. There are rumours that the LVMH Group is looking for a spot in central Mumbai to build its own luxury mall,but these remain unconfirmed.

If this were China,we would have built a super-chic mall in New Bombay or Nhava Sheva,and built a sea-link in probably 10 months to get there in 10 minutes from Sewri. It would take less time to reach here from Colaba that it does to get to Worli.

And then we’d have a fighting chance to retain our title of India’s most stylish city. But not right now.

(namratanow@gmail.com)