Premium mall squeeze threatens Lifestyle's aggressive India store rollout
16 November 2025, Mumbai
Retail expansion in India's booming lifestyle segment faces a sudden bottleneck, with department store giant Lifestyle International Pvt. Ltd. warning that its aggressive store opening plans for the next year could be "hit." Chief Executive Officer Devarajan Iyer attributes the potential slowdown not to consumer demand, but to a critical shortage of premium, large-format retail spaces.
Lifestyle, the renowned department store chain under the Dubai-based Landmark Group, currently operates 125 stores across India and aims to launch 12 to 14 new locations annually. However, the company, which prefers large (40,000+ sq ft) spaces in top-tier malls, is struggling to find suitable properties. "Class-A mall developers are not creating these kinds of malls now," Iyer noted, citing an absence of upcoming new projects from major developers like Phoenix and DLF in the immediate pipeline for the following year.
The challenge is strategic for Lifestyle, whose total revenue recently rose 5.7% to ₹12,031 crore (Fiscal 2025), with profit surging 42% to ₹415 crore. To counter the mall space crunch, the company is now adopting a proactive, partnership-based approach, working directly with developers to co-identify and secure spots, a strategy where the Landmark Group's combined formats (Lifestyle, Max, Home Center, etc.) can occupy up to 100,000 sq ft in a single major development.
Lifestyle is a leading mid-to-premium segment department store focusing on fashion, beauty, footwear, and accessories. Its strategy involves maintaining a strong offline presence, with only 6% of sales currently coming from its growing e-commerce channel (which is targeted to reach 10% soon and is growing at 20%). The company is also focusing expansion heavily on Tier-1 and Tier-2 cities, where consumer experience in brick-and-mortar stores is showing higher traction, reinforcing the need for quality physical retail infrastructure.
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