ISLAMABAD, March 13: It opened in the middle of February when thousands gathered at the soft launch. With traffic jams to herald the first stage of completion, The Centaurus Mall is open for business and has survived the first month.
Mrs. Abida Samad, one of the early visitors to Centaurus says, “It is a nice feeling to see so many people come to one place in Islamabad. A lot isn't open yet but the rest promises to be as nice as the first floor and a bit which is open.”
With the enormous scale of the project, a residential complex, a corporate centre, a hotel and the mall, only a very small portion is yet complete. But a four-storey mall with over 200 shops, the children’s area, food court and cinema, and multi-tiered parking, is an encouraging start.
Mrs. Gulrukh Khan said that she really liked the overall look of the mall. The ambience was clean and the security measures were up to mark. She was waiting for the other brand outlets to open soon along with the food court and also hoped the cinema would be of international standards.
Others were less satisfied with the current state of the Mall, however, as Mrs. Tareen said that the experience was “disappointing – like eating a half-baked cake. More than half the stores were closed and there was no food outlet other than Cinnabon!”
Mr. Shahbaz Rana, Head of Business Development for The Centaurus, said that the fact that the food court and other outlets had not opened in time for the soft launch had indeed been a problem but that they had set up free water counters and had also had vendor stalls of various sorts of snacks available in the first week.
He believes that The Centaurus is a one roof concept and it is the way forward. He narrates how when his relatives come to the capital from Lahore, they inform him that they are not going to Pir Sohawa again. Now there is somewhere to go with a range of things to do.
While he agreed that only a portion of the mall was open at the moment, he estimates that the food court and much of the second floor will be functional by March 30, and 75 to 80 per cent of the Mall would be fully functional by the end of April.
The Centaurus is a destination - and to facilitate the shopkeepers and tenants, the developers have gigantic generators, automatic insurance, elevators and escalators and security.
Mr. Rana quoted Sardar Ilyas, the developer whose motto is “the tenants’ success is the project’s success.”
Interestingly enough, there has not been a single incident of misbehaviour at The Centaurus despite the four busy days a week when the traffic at the mall reaches 28 to 30 thousand a day.
Saddam Hussain, the branch manager at Mocciani, said that while the actual sales at the older branches are more there is a great atmosphere at The Centaurus.
According to his team, the rapport and communications with the customers is better, politer and the ambiance inspires people to behave better.
Certainly the ambiance is similar to malls in the Middle East. The high end luxury brands, coupled with variety of goods available may result in The Centaurus becoming the place to go to. As yet, however, it is a work in progress with missing and broken marble tiles in flower beds, construction material in the entrance of the parking lot and various shops and sections still to open.