blog archive

Sunday 19 December 2010

For Delhi women, safety biggest 'high'


NEW DELHI: Women love their drink; and if the ambience is right, they don't mind picking it up on their own from the liquor store. That's what an analysis of footfalls at High Times, the first state-run liquor vend in a mall, has thrown up.

At least 15% buyers at the 1,400 square feet outlet in DLF Saket mall happen to be women, with the figure going up to 20% on the weekend and tapering off on weekdays. The encouraging figures come from a Delhi State Infrastructure and Industrial Development Corporation study of all customers at High Times since the store launched in April 2009 to make liquor purchase a pleasant experience, especially for women and foreign tourists.

The shop is already doing business to the tune of Rs 2.5 lakh daily. Most buyers here are keen on imported wine, beer and high-end scotch — no surprise if one considers the store's location.

"To make liquor purchase a pleasant experience and to enable women and foreign tourists to visit liquor shops, DSIIDC launched the first liquor shop named High Times at DLF Saket Mall in April, 2009," elaborates C Arvind, general manager, DSIIDC.

He said that the fact that women buyers had started coming to the shop in the mall goes to show that they feel safe and the ambience is comfortable for them to reach out to the counter and ask for their pick of liquor.

"The mall experience is completely different from local shops, where a large number of men queue up to buy liquor, stopping women from even contemplating about heading out for the vend," Arvind added.

The shop, spread over a 1,400 square feet area, has been set up by DSIIDC at the luxurious DLF Place mall in Saket in south Delhi. On sale at the shop are over 200 brands of imported foreign liquor and almost all Indian Made Foreign Liquor brands.

The sprawling fully-airconditioned shop at the DLF Place is equipped with computerized billing and bar-coding facility, besides a trained batch of staff.

For wine lovers, the shop has a separate section for imported wine, which has provisions to maintain correct temperature so that the real taste of it is retained.

After a positive response at Saket Mall, DSIIDC is now preparing to launch another High Times vend at the DLF Promenade Mall at Vasant Kunj. This vend, expected to open before New Year, will be spread over 2200 square feet and will display finest brands approved by the excise department. The shop will have a dedicated wine counter, Arvind added.

The DSIIDC had opened another liquor vend in West Gate mall at Rajouri Garden. But that failed to deliver and was closed. The Corporation pointed out that the mall as a whole attracted very few customers; morever, since the shop was located next to a restaurant, it was certainly not the best location to attract customers as most preferred to take a drink at the restaurant itself.

Not prepared to take any chances, the Corporation waited to see the shop at Saket mall stabilize before moving ahead with plans to open the Vasant Kunj outlet.

While there is just one government-run shop functional in a mall yet, the state runs 455 liquor shops across the city and there are 115 authorized private liquor vends. As per estimates, the numbers are inadequate keeping in view the demand and the population in the capital.

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