Prestige Group Safety Measures Across Retail Outlets

V Muhammad Ali - COO - Retail Division, Prestige Group explains, the post-Covid preparations for their Malls opening across cities.   Prestige Group, one of the largest mall owners in the country today with 9 malls across India in Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mangalore, Mysore and Udaipur has 4.2 million sft of Retail space, and 1500 stores under the brand name ‘Forum’ malls, apart from The Collection, UB City, the only luxury shopping destination in South India. In addition, Prestige Group is currently constructing 5 malls in Bangalore, Chennai and Kochi, thereby adding another 4 million sft of Retail space.   Forum malls and The Collection, UB City, Bengaluru are following all health and safety protocols to ensure that visitors feel perfectly safe and at ease. As most Prestige Group malls are big in size, so even if more people come in, social distancing can still be followed effectively.   At the entry: Shoppers will undergo mandatory thermal screening at the entrance of each mall, and those with any sign of illness will not be permitted inside. A sanitization tunnel has been placed at the entrance of the malls, for people to pass through, to enter the malls. Safety indication on Arogya Setu app, wearing of mask, sanitization and social distancing while entering the mall is also mandatory. Footfalls will be monitored, and there is a cut-off limit.   Social distancing measures: Foot markers inside the lifts and escalators to facilitate social distancing have been established. We have also implemented QR code-based contactless food ordering and billing service, maintaining safe distance between tables and a separate family section to provide safe dining experience for customers at the food court. Restaurants are also organizing their seating to follow social distancing measures.   Sanitizing measures: Both people working at the malls as well as the shoppers will mandatorily have to wear masks for the entire duration of their time inside the malls. Sanitisers will also be placed at regular intervals, including at the entrance to the malls, as well as in all washrooms. Within the washrooms, spacing has been created between the sinks as well as the cubicles, and contactless soap dispensers and taps are available. Other aspects of the mall like parking etc. have also been made as contactless as possible.   Safety measures by brands: In addition, retailers have been advised to avoid the use of trial rooms at this point. And even if they do use them, they need to be sanitised properly after every use. The apparel brands will either avoid trials or make sure the garment is taken off the racks, post-trial and completely sanitized before being put on display again. Frequent steaming of garments and disinfecting surfaces such as escalators, cash counters, card machines, shopping bags, etc. will be done by brands to ensure safe shopping experience.   Back-end safety measures by the mall: There are high level safety precautions being followed in the material handling procedures such as sanitizing and fumigation of delivery trucks and materials, wearing of masks, gloves for the delivery personnel, limited entry of people and material inside the service lift etc.