by THO
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Zara has closed its only independent store in the 118-year-old heritage Ismail building at Flora Fountain, South Mumbai. Luxury fashion brand Purple Style Labs has now leased 60,000 sq ft of retail space in the same iconic building for an annual rent of ₹36 crore, securing a five-year lease, as per property registration documents obtained by Propstack.com.
According to property registration documents, the new tenant has taken the space on a five-year lease.
Purple Style Labs, founded by Abhishek Agarwal in 2015, retails high-end designer brands under Pernia’s Pop-Up Shop brand.
The firm acquired Pernia’s Pop-Up Shop in 2018. It incubates young designer brands and helps them with sales, marketing, and technical support. According to the company’s website, it sells products of renowned labels such as Tarun Tahiliani, Falguni Shane Peacock, Amit Aggarwal, Gaurav Gupta, Seema Gujral, Abhinav Mishra, Shyamal & Bhumika.
In 2020, the company acquired Wendell Rodricks’s brand after the Goa-based designer suddenly passed away at 59.
According to Purple Style Labs’ official website, it currently has stores in several areas of Mumbai, such as Kemps Corner, Juhu, and Bandra.
PSL Retail Private Limited leases 60,000 sq ft of retail space
Purple Style Labs, a luxury fashion chain, has taken 59,350 sq ft of retail space on lease in the Ismail Building for five years. The monthly rent for the store is ₹3 crore, which translates to ₹36 crore annual rent for the first year.
The annual rent for the second year goes up to ₹39 crore, for the third year to ₹42 crore, for the fourth year to ₹43.8 crore, and for the fifth year to ₹45.6 crore, the documents show.
The deposit for the transaction is ₹18 crore, as shown in the documents.
The transaction was registered on December 23, 2025, for which a stamp duty of over ₹53 lakh and registration fees of ₹1,000 were paid.
Also Read: Retail leasing hits 8.1 million sq ft across eight cities in 2024; Bengaluru tops the list
Zara exits from South Mumbai
Spanish retail brand Zara closed its flagship store in South Mumbai’s Fort area after nine years. The 51,300 sq ft store was located in the Edwardian neoclassical Ismail Building at Flora Fountain.
“Please be informed that this Zara store will cease operations after the end of business on February 23. We will continue to assist you at all our Zara stores in Mumbai,” read a notice outside the Zara store in South Mumbai.
Zara registered the lease for the South Mumbai store in the Ismail Building on April 1, 2016, for a tenure of 21 years. However, property registration documents show that the company decided to close the store after nine years.
The documents showed that Zara paid ₹2.25 crore as rent when it took up the space in 2016 and a deposit of ₹13.5 crore for the 47,565 sq ft space that it leased.
It should be noted that Zara is owned by Inditex SA, a global fashion retailer that has been operating in India since 2010 through a 65:35 joint venture with the Tata Group Trent. It is known as Inditex Trent Retail India. It retails two brands, Zara and Massimo Dutti, in India.
According to Zara’s official website, the company continues to have Zara stores in several other locations in Mumbai. These include the store at Palladium Mall in Lower Parel, Phoenix Market City in Kurla, Oberoi Mall in Goregaon, Infinity 2 Mall in Malad, and Viviana Mall in Thane.
Why did Zara exit South Mumbai?
According to retail experts, a store’s success is not solely determined by its location; financial viability and foot traffic play a significant role.
“Nine years is a reasonable period to assess whether the store is financially sustainable in South Mumbai or if the company can rely on its Palladium Mall location,” a retail head from an international property consultancy told HT.com.
“The South Mumbai demographic that can afford Zara has largely shifted to Central Mumbai, particularly in Worli and Lower Parel, where they are likely shopping at Palladium Mall. As a result, South Mumbai has become just another address, while Palladium Mall offers the advantage of higher foot traffic,” the expert added.
Also Read: Here’s why high-net-worth individuals may be selling their properties in Mumbai’s real estate market
Meanwhile, Arif Fazlani, managing director of the Fazlani Group, which owns the historical building, confirmed Zara’s exit from the Fort area. “Zara will hand over the premises by the end of this month, and starting March 1, there will be a new tenant,” he told Hindustan Times on February 24.
An email query has been sent to Purple Style Labs, but there has been no response. If a response is received, the story will be updated. Zara could not be reached for comment.
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