VIVIANA: FIRST INDIAN MALL TO WIN A GOLD AWARD AT THE ICSC ANNUAL ASIA PACIFIC SHOPPING CENTER AWARDS 2014

Mumbai, 13th November, 2014: Viviana Mall, one of Mumbai’s leading retail destination, has bagged a gold award at the 2014 Asia Pacific Shopping Center Awards held in Singapore for its “Inclusive Marketing Strategy for Visually Impaired Patrons”. Viviana has created a niche in the Indian retail industry by the virtue of being the first Indian mall to bag the award in the Gold category.

Viviana is the first mall in the country to have embraced this cause and has pioneered a new dimension in marketing strategy by designing communication for the visually impaired. The mall tied-up with Xavier’s Resource Centre for the Visually Impaired (XRCVC) for training the mall staff and also collaborated with the Eye Bank Association of India (EBAI) who had set up a permanent kiosk at the mall for a year. To amplify this objective, the mall chose to have a bike ride in partnership with the EBAI and the Royal Enfield Owners Clubwherein the 2,000 bikers rode from Carter Road in Bandra to the mall to create awareness on the cause of eye-donation. The objective of the campaign was to empower the visually impaired shoppers and the bike ride was a unique platform to convey the same.

Mr. Ashwin Sheth, MD, Sheth Developers & Realtors said, “We are delighted to be honoured with a gold award at the world’s most prestigious retail platform. We are thankful to the jury at ICSC who have recognized our efforts to empower the visually impaired patrons by making them independent. With this cause being close to our heart, we will continue to enrich the lives of visually impaired.”

Ms. Rima Pradhan, Vice-President – Marketing, Viviana Mall said, “Mall are emerging ascommunity developers and being a part of the system at large, we intensely support this cause. Being the only mall in the country to serve visually impaired patrons, we endure to vigorously empower people and contribute to the social development of the society. This win has motivated us to take-up many more causes to enhance human development’.

Viviana competed with some renowned global malls such as Charlestown (Australia), Shanghai Xintiandi (China), Robina Town Centre (Australia), Sunway Pyramid (Malaysia), Times Square (HongKong), Northland Shopping Centre (Australia), Ayala Malls – Greenbelt (Philippines) amongst others to bag the gold award in this category. For the first time an Indian mall has won a gold award at the ICSC thus setting a benchmark in the global retail industry.

ICSC announced the winners of the 2014 ICSC Asia Pacific Shopping Center Awards during a recently concluded ceremony at ICSC’s RECon Asia Convention in Singapore. In addition, all 2014 gold winners are automatically eligible to win ICSC's VIVA Best-of-the- Best Award. The ICSC VIVA Best-of-the-Best Awards, which recognize the shopping center industry’s most cutting edge properties, innovative solutions and creative responses to market trends throughout the world, will be presented during ICSC's annual convention, RECon, May 17, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nev.

About Viviana Mall:
Encompassing over 240 stores which comprises of 19 large & mini anchors tenants, Viviana covers three floors of prime retail and leisure space. Viviana boasts of a unique tenant mix – Cinepolis, a megaplex with 14 screens, 19 anchor tenants for the first time in the country and brands like Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle, Marks & Spencer, ZARA, Tommy Hilfiger, Lifestyle, Hamleys, Starbucks, Mainland China, Copper Chimney, Pizza Express, British Brewing Company and many others for the first time in Thane. The mall houses Forever 21 for the first time in the eastern suburbs of Mumbai. Within a year of operations the mall has garnered over twelve accolades in the areas of architecture, mall marketing, design and mall management category.

About ICSC:
Founded in 1957, ICSC is the premier global trade association of the shopping center industry. Throughout its history, the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) has recognized and honored the shopping center industry’s most cutting edge properties, innovative solutions and creative responses to market trends, as well as outstanding examples of design and development around the world through its Global Awards programs. Its more than 67,000 members in over 100 countries include shopping center owners, developers, managers, marketing specialists, investors, retailers and brokers, as well as academics and public officials. For more information, visit www.icsc.org.