Nothing lasts forever, not even the places that once defined a city. In Delhi, that truth feels particularly stark when you walk into Ansal Plaza.
Inaugurated in 1999 in South Delhi, it was the capital’s first mall, a novelty in a city that had not yet discovered weekend mall culture. Ask a Delhi Boomer or a Millennial, and they will speak of it with a fondness usually reserved for first loves. And those who grew up orbiting around DLF Promenade or Select Citywalk will never quite understand what it meant.
Ansal Plaza was where Delhi first rehearsed the idea of modern urban leisure. It housed the city’s first Shoppers Stop. McDonald’s was not just a fast-food joint; it was a dating destination. The amphitheatre hosted concerts and film promotions. Music World (faded post digital shift) sold cassettes and CDs to a generation that had not yet met streaming.
Journalist Deebashree Mohanty remembers watching it rise, brick by brick. Her father, then a senior bureaucrat, had government housing in the adjacent Hudco Place complex. “When Ansals announced that a mall would be coming up within the same gated complex, it felt like the centre of the world had arrived at our doorstep,” she recalls.
There was McDonald’s, of course. Shoppers Stop. Shoe stores. An ethnic wear brand that everyone recognised. A pub catering to a budding party crowd. But the real draw was the central atrium, which doubled as a performance space. “I remember attending concerts there, and one particularly big event when Palash and Euphoria performed,” she says.
Ansal Plaza was more than just a shopping complex. For young adults growing up in that era, it was a concept, a hangout spot, and a symbol of a new kind of urban life. Most importantly, it was the first place where people could simply go and “chill.”
India Today recently reported on how Noida’s once-thriving The Great India Place — better known as GIP — now stands largely abandoned, stripped of its former buzz. Once a weekend staple for NCR families, parts of it resemble a shell of what they used to be. It made me wonder: what has become of Delhi’s first mall? So I went to find out.
Now, it resembles a ghost town
The approach to Ansal Plaza is poorly lit. The signage is absent. The parking lot, once chaotic, is almost empty. Inside too, the silence is palpable.
McDonald’s and KFC are among the few outlets that seem to function steadily. A gaming arcade, Game Palacio, occupies space on the premises, but footfall is thin.
Apart from that, the mall is largely populated by shop staff, security guards and delivery executives picking up orders.
The escalators are not functional. The toilets unclean. The lifts are unreliable. Some sections look half-renovated; others appear forgotten. There are paan stains everywhere, and taking the stairs truly feels daunting because the mall is so empty.
Upper floors house a government-owned bank office and a few private companies — more functional than commercial.
A man who described himself as the ‘caretaker’ of a pub in the mall, and asked not to be named, says business is barely sustainable. “We pay around Rs 3.5 lakh in rent. The footfall is so low that we cannot recover it. The lifts don’t function properly. The escalators stop. When we approach management, nothing changes. We are just barely surviving,” he says.
He pointed to another concern: a liquor shop within the premises. “We have requested a separate entry and exit for it. Not everyone who walks in comes with the best intentions. It makes the environment feel unsafe.”
That unease is not abstract. During my visit, there were people passing a comment or two and staring, which did feel a little uneasy (not something you expect inside a mall). The empty corridors, dim staircases and near-deserted floors lend the place a distinctly unsettling air.
Retailers admit business is sparse. “There is no footfall,” several say bluntly. A jewellery store employee explains their survival differently: “We have an existing client base. We don’t depend on walk-ins.”
And then there are the spas, operational, but about which no one is willing to speak on record.
A second life
While Ansal Plaza has long-lost its sheen, it did get a second life in 2016 after having virtually gone into oblivion the first time.
They relaunched the mall with 16 new brands, with Decathlon being the anchor brand.
Did it work? Absolutely not! Within a year, things started taking an ugly turn. Decathlon, which anchored the relaunch, closed around 2023, and the rest, as you know, is history.
Why did it fail?
Some point to competition. As newer malls in Saket and Vasant Kunj offered multiplexes, sprawling food courts and better infrastructure, Ansal Plaza struggled to keep up, even post-relaunch. Others blame management neglect.
Timing did not help either. Its 2016 revival coincided with demonetisation — a blow to discretionary spending that retail was ill-prepared to absorb.
Or maybe, just maybe, as some credulous people still mutter – ‘Is it the curse of Uphaar?
