FACETS OF THE PHOENIX The exterior of the mall / Photo: R. Shivaji Rao / The Hindu

Of the million sq. ft. Phoenix Market City that marks the convergence of shopping, dining, entertainment, art, architecture and design

Ah the whiff of fresh paint…the delightful smell of all things new. The two-day old Phoenix Market City in Velachery is like a gift that’s just been unwrapped. It’s shining, sparkling clean and while some of the store owners are still busy setting up shop, the mall rats have already begun discovering their latest haunt.

Spread over a million sq. ft. Phoenix Market City houses 300-plus stores, with four-and-a-half levels of shopping area and a food court, a basement as well as a multi-level car park, a 30-room boutique hotel, an apartment complex, an amphitheatre and a club.

A joint venture of Phoenix Mills and Sharyans Resources, this is the fourth in the series of Phoenix malls after Mumbai, Pune and Bengaluru. “This mall is a convergence of shopping, dining, entertainment, art, architecture and design. It’s about presenting a destination to the city. Malls are becoming the nerve centres of cities. This is a mall where people of Chennai would like to congregate. It’s where a day can be well spent,” says Vijay Choraria, managing director, Sharyans Resources.

So, what’s exciting about the mall? It brings to Chennai some of the biggest brands from across the country and the globe. The list includes…hold your breath…Mango, Manchester United, Steve Madden, Promod, Superdry, Brooks Brothers, Esbeda and many others in addition to the already existing Lifestyle, Pantaloons, AND, Global Desi, Charles & Keith, Aldo, MAC, Globus, Indian apparel outlets such as Begum etc. There are electronic stores such as Access, Poorvika, home décor outlets, stores for new born babies and lots more. “We’ve ensured there is a good mix of shops for every age group in this inclusive mall,” says Choraria.

Also, Chennai’s wait for its own Hard Rock Café can now end. The popular chain is scheduled to open in the next of couple of months. Spaghetti Kitchen, Nando’s, California Pizza Kitchen too will set up shop at this mall with a host of other fine dining options as well.

The food court has 11 counters set up by Moti Mahal Express, ID, KFC, Domino’s, Wow Momo, Nala’s Aappakadai, China Wall, Arabian Hut, Kailash Parbat, Fruit Punch and Kwality Walls.

This mall has been designed by Benoy, a Hong-Kong based company. “Not just shopping and dining, Phoenix Market City is also about promoting art. We have sculptures by artists from all over India. The installations on display will keep changing every few months,” Choraria adds.

As of now the installation ‘Apocalyptron’ made of plastic cans by Thukral and Tagra, resembling a Transformer is the centre of attention with enthusiastic mall goers taking photographs with it. A large sculpture of a woman’s face made by Ravindra Reddy too gets quite a few flashbulbs.

Sathyam Cinemas will launch their next theatre here. Titled Luxe, this theatre spells opulence. It will also house Chennai’s first IMAX theatre. The lobby looks straight out of a glitzy night club in Paris. With black and white tiles, glittery wall panels, high ceiling, velvet drapes and 11 screens to choose from this sure is a theatre to lookout for.

The team is certain that the mall will do well here. “Chennai is a great market. This city is still very traditional, yet modern. It is true representation of modern India,” says Choraria.

Asked about competition, Choraria adds, “Express Avenue Mall is the best location-wise. It’s a great mall. But I am sure this city can do with two great malls. These are at two ends of the city. Velachery is the extension of the new Mount Road.”

As of now only 130 stores are open. By March the mall should be fully functional and will also organise quite a few events.

Children can keep themselves amused at Fun City or at the Scary House where skeletons among other spooky things can make them giggle, shriek or cry.

Luxury gets a new address as the Phoenix rises in Chennai.

source: http://www.TheHindu.com / Home> Life & Style> Leisure / by Priyadarshini Paitandy / Chennai, January 25th, 2013

Chennai :

The traditional south Indian filter coffee , it appears, has gone instant. And the elderly Chennai mami too tired to decoct for one, the working couple who love their filter coffee but are to busy to brew and the family from north India unable to crack the bean blend that will produce the perfect cuppa, are gulping it down.

In the last one and a half years, Chennai has seen a number of entrants into the readymade decoction market — a plantation owner, a mom of two, and a former milk delivery boy. And there’s another from Udumalpet waiting in the wings.

All you need to do is add hot milk, sugar to taste and you’re ready to go, says Geetha Saravanan, a mother of two, who launched her brand Bean Boy, last year. Made at a central kitchen in Perungudi, the decoction — her grandmother’s recipe — is bottled and delivered to customers’ homes at 5 am. “My family and friends  love my filter coffee. They always tell me they never get it right. So I thought, why not market it,” says Saravanan, who began with 1.5 lakh borrowed from her husband.

Delivering an average of 400 bottles a day, Bean Boy  generates revenue of Rs 1.5 lakh a month for Saravanan, who even gives her customers a value-add — a workshop on how to make filter coffee.

Then there is the coffee plantation hand-turned-milk delivery boy-turned-entrepreneur V Balaji, 26, who began delivering his Sri Balaji Coffee  decoction in 2010. “The idea for my business came to me when I delivered milk to a north Indian family, who invited me in for coffee. They offered me a cup of instant coffee , and I told them I would make something better,” says Balaji, who returned to their house the next day with his home-brewed decoction. Soon, he began getting orders by word of mouth, which he turned into a business that is now earning him 5,000 a day.

Homemaker Priya Srinivasan, one of Balaji’s loyal customers, says the true test of his decoction is that her mother-in-law likes it. “She used to prefer tea because there was no filter coffee in the house. Making it the regular way takes long. With this instant decoction, I can see she is happy,” says Srinivasan .

‘Coffee market growing at 6% per year in India’

For coffee plantation owner Anush Narayanan, who has been selling his own brand of coffee powder since the 1990s, creating a readymade decoction seemed a logical extension of his business. “The filter coffee market is growing and so is the market for readymade decoction. We sell 12,000 pouches a month,” says Narayanan, who retails his Kaaveri decoction out of 75 stores in Chennai and is planning to go nation-wide this year.

As per sources in the  Coffee Board of India , over 30,000 metric  tonnes of coffee are consumed per annum in Tamil Nadu — with filter coffee staking its claim to 54% of the market and 46% going to instant coffee. Pan India, where over one lakh metric tonnes of coffee are consumed per annum, instant coffee has a larger market share  of 57%. The pan-Indian coffee market is growing at the rate of 5% to 6% per annum.Narayanan says he plans to cash in on the growing Indian market. “We are taking our kaapi decoction toBangalore,Mumbai and Kolkata,”he says.

Meanwhile, G Samyraj from Udumalaipettai, has just trademarked his brand ‘Only Coffee Kumbakonam Degree Filter Coffee’, which has outlets on the national and state highways in TN. He plans to supply his decoction at departmental stores across the state.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Home> City> Chennai / by Kamini Mathai, TNN / January 25th, 2013