THIRUVANANTHAPURAM — The ‘Mall of Travancore’ the largest shopping mall of the capital city is all set to open its door to the people of Trivandrum, adding colors to their life. This state-of-the-art mall is designed to give a world-class shopping experience and is positioned as a preferred shopping destination. On March 23, Kerala Chief Minister Sri. Pinarayi Vijayan will dedicate the Mall of Travancore to the public. The genesis of setting up a mall under Malabar Group was born in the year 2005. For this, Malabar Group representatives had visited over 1,000 malls in India and abroad to learn and get a hands-on experience about the functioning of malls. With this regards, a detailed marketing study was conducted in Kerala. Based on these studies, it was decided to set up a Mall in Trivandrum District. In 2006, Malabar Group had started the process of acquiring seven acres of land in Enjakkal near Thiruvananthapuram International Airport. The land acquisition was completed by buying plots measuring from four cents to 2 acres from 27 different landlords. The management had decided to go green and to have a complete eco-friendly and nature friendly construction. The height of the mall was limited to three floors since the property is adjacent to Thiruvananthapuram International Airport. On Nov. 27, 2014 the then Chief Minister Oommen Chandy laid the foundation stone of the mall. It was after studying the peculiarities of Thiruvananthapuram, the management had decided to set the mall there. Thiruvananthapuram not only enjoys the specialty of being the capital city of the state and the headquarters of the government, but is known for its century old cultural heritage, and economic prosperity. It has also shown the way for development to other parts of the state. Being the capital city, it is home for numerous Central and State PSUs and establishments including ISRO, private firms, and several techno parks. The total population of the city is 12 lakhs. Every day, around four lakh people commute to and from the city for various purposes. The city population consist of highly educated, secular, cultured, and economically well-to-do people. In tourism, the district has a leading position. A lot of foreign tourists visit the internationally renowned Kovalam beach every year. Seventy-four aircrafts operates everyday from the modern International airport of Thiruvananthapuram. Around 8,000 people transit through the airport daily. Around 70 trains originate or pass through the Thiruvananthapuram railway station every day and almost 100,000 people depend on it. Around 100,000 people commute everyday through the bus station operating more than 1,000 buses daily. This shows the dynamic nature of the place. Trade is also very vibrant here. Business worth around Rs 40 crore is transacted here every day. Purchasing power of the people is also high here. These are the positive factors that insisted Malabar Group to set up the mall here. Compared to other districts, Thiruvananthapuram did not have a convenient umbrella shopping center. Mall of Travancore will solve this problem. Spread over 6.5 lakh sq ft in three floors, there are large collection of world class branded items to offer. Along with shopping, there are facilities for entertainment within the Mall, both for kids and grownups. A hypermarket offering products that fits the requirements of all kinds of people who can select products as per their choice, a vast jewelry showroom to satisfy ornament lovers, electronics & home appliances showroom, life