Deck 03 · Feb 2026 · 19 slides
Rajagiriya Mall: A Case Study in Retail Destination Strategy
Thought piece
An unsolicited retail strategy for a Colombo mall. Figures and images are illustrative. It led to an interview with another operator.
Directed and edited by me, with AI tools.
A 240,000 sq ft mall inside a new mixed-use development had to choose between two identities: chase the few thousand ultra-high-net-worth shoppers already served by One Galle Face, or own the affluent suburbs on its doorstep.
I recommended the second. Luxury brands are largely locked into existing franchises, and luxury spend vanishes in a downturn. Around 35,000 households within 2.5km, plus the development’s own residents, need somewhere premium they can use several times a week, not a few times a year. The strategy builds on that. Homeware is the differentiator, sold to new homeowners, with wellness and dining alongside. Rents are hybrid, with a revenue share scaled by tenant type, and the anchors are a cinema, a food court and a premium supermarket. Delivery riders get their own infrastructure so they stop clogging the entrance. Figures and images in the deck are illustrative.
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