rudrapur have poor occupancy levels we are keeping our fingers crossed says rk arora managing director of supertech his days are spent convincing big retailers like kishore biyanis big bazaar about the potential of these new markets but biyani would rather opt for standalone stores in the small towns there are not many good malls in these locations and the cost of being present there including high maintenance is too high he says last year big bazaar closed down two stores in meerut and ludhiana since they were located in malls that were 1015 km away from the city and consumers were not ready to travel that distance later on they were relocated to town centres like biyani other retailers too are opting for standalone stores in crowded bazaars the footfalls do not matter it makes sense only if the tills keep ringing adds harkirat singh managing director of leather good maker woodland nearly 100 of whose 400 stores across india are located in small towns we still prefer shopping streets over malls in the smaller towns he says according to shukla of ncaer the per capita income in small towns is growing but is not translating into consumption of branded items in the same proportion small towns have limited population which do not provide economy of scale for retailers as against large towns the returnoninvestment roi from a retailers point of view hence has a better yield in a metro city this is why even foreign direct investments stay in the metros he says the growth of indias gross domestic product gdp has dropped to a decade low of around 5 this fiscal year from a peak of 96 in 200607 the period between 200405 and 200910 has also been a slow one for job creation the most recent survey by the planning commission shows that india lost 5 million jobs between 2005 and 2010 the indian government opened up multibrand retail to foreign investment late last year amid uproar by the opposition parties arguing that the move would bring in investments across the farmtofork sector unleash consumer spending and spur demand however stringent conditions and a lack of clarity about the policy have ensured that foreign multibrand retailers like walmart and carrefour are yet to announce their india plans real estate developers across the country had hoped that the entry of large format retailers would create demand for retail space and also give a fillip to development of malls in the country this apart in the initial stages it would help absorb surplus retail space across shopping malls in both big and small towns retail experts say many of the malls in smaller towns were built by developers who did not understand the retail business very well they built without considering the science and art behind making a mall choosing correct tenants zoning property which is why some of them are facing issues says saloni nangia president at technopak