Wednesday Dec 25, 2024
Tuesday, 24 December 2024 01:14 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Sri Lanka’s first international standard shopping mall brought by Abans Group – Colombo City Centre – is gearing up with unique new concepts for the festive season, reaffirming its leadership as a premier lifestyle destination showcasing over 70 local and international brands, along with world-class entertainment and dining options.
The latest additions to the mall, which spans over 200,000 square feet of retail, dining and entertainment space, include its newest anchor tenant – the flagship store of Kelly Felder, Spa Ceylon with a flagship store and fully-fledged spa, BOSS, the first physical Cliara Essential Oils store, Exclusive Lines, Soqka Batik, Stripes and Checks, Tony Pellé and AVI. Foodies can enjoy a mix of fast food with Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, as well as other quick options – It’s Biryani and Magic Corn being some.
For the first time in Sri Lanka, Barbeque Nation of India, Monster Café of the Philippines and Scanberry with its Chinese tea offerings will soon be seen at CCC adding to the unique dining experiences. Other renowned brands including Amante, Pepper Street and Fries Isle are also set to open soon.
Opening its doors in 2018 September, CCC revolutionised the retail industry with a collective of world-renowned brands, while adding the latest movies, street-food and gourmet pub and dining experiences within an exciting and thrilling ambience embracing families and individuals alike. Besides the retail spaces, CCC also houses pubs and sports bars, restaurants for the discerning connoisseur and a six-screen multiplex cinema that shows the latest movies no sooner than these are released in film capitals around the world.
“Being the first international standard shopping mall in the country, when CCC was launched in Sri Lanka, we were very much aware of retail sentiment,” says CCC CEO Hirushka Fernando. “This led us to design a mall that would be ergonomically aligned to international shopping spaces including introducing a specialty gourmet supermarket, gastronomic experiences ranging from street food to epicurean cuisine and fulfil a much-needed niche in entertainment options with a six-screened multiplex cinema, a glow in the dark bowling alley, golf, synthetic ice skating and laser tag station.”
Affirming its leadership as a key player in Colombo’s retail landscape, CCC has not been without challenges although, it showcased extraordinary resilience through a number of macro challenges that impacted consumer behaviour in Sri Lanka. “From the Easter attacks to the pandemic to the economic crisis and resulting instability, Sri Lanka as a country faced innumerable challenges,” reminds Fernando. “Purchasing power was at an all-time low resulting in the retail industry including CCC facing immense difficulties. Operational costs soared while some shopping stores and restaurants found it challenging even to pay basic rentals, which naturally impacted the CCC bottom line.”
Fernando adds, however, that despite the challenges, one trait remained very strong in the CCC persona: “The fact that CCC is built on a foundation of strong resilience, being a fully owned subsidiary of the Abans Group in Sri Lanka, and the commitment to continue offering the world-class experiences we had on offer even during the most trying times, has carried us through. This has translated into immense brand loyalty for CCC among our customers, firmly placing CCC as the preferred retail experience in top-of-mind recall.”
The CCC brand remains resilient and strong in its delivery promise, reinventing experiences with a commitment to continue being a family space, innovating these experiences to deliver unique and unparalleled retail, dining and entertainment to Colombo’s cityscape. “A defining characteristic for CCC is that it has attracted a wide range of stores both in retail and cuisine, which naturally permeates to additional footfall, enhanced shopping experiences and increased spend. With constant reinvention, innovation and mapping of customer sentiment, we are and will continue to exceed our stakeholder aspirations adding more hues, flavours and trends into a vibrant shopping and entertainment destination that continues to have something for everyone,” concludes Fernando.